Choices, choices
by Ongaku no Usagi
Summary: I think I'm in love.  Now the question is, with whom?
1. Chapter 1

Choices, choices

A "Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" fanfic

_by Ongaku no Usagi_

**Disclaimer: **I do not own "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". It belongs to Nagaru Tanigawa.

Chapter 11:

I think I'm in love.

No, really. I know that gets thrown around a lot, like a baseball between two elementary school students. More often than not, it just falls flat, plop, onto the ground. Because we all know, don't we, that love is one of those useless, indefinable words, overused since time immemorial, by every human who has walked the planet.

But I definitely think I am in love. Whenever she passes, my heart gives a great thump, like an over eager sumo wrestler playing a bass drum. My palms get sweaty; sometimes the rest of me does, too. When she's talking to me, my brain goes fuzzy, and words get stuck somewhere in my throat, I'm not even sure if they have time to meet my vocal chords at all. So I think I am in love.

Now the question is, with whom?

Yes, that's the tricky bit. Being the rational character that I am, the kind who knew, indeed, from childhood, that Santa Claus does not exist, and came to accept, later, that such things as aliens, time-travelers and espers do not exist, either, I'd like to dredge up an old biology lesson from junior high and use the scientific method to reach a rational conclusion.

The steps of the scientific method are, of course, as follows:

1. Ask question

2. Do background research

3. Construct hypothesis

4. Test with an experiment

5. Analyze results/draw conclusion

6. Determine if hypothesis is true

Repeat steps 3-6 as necessary

7. Report results

Step (1) is obvious. "Who am I in love with?" However, it seems necessary at this point to lay out the possible candidates.

(subset)

1. Asahina Mikuru

» A beautiful, somewhat bashful, red-haired girl from the year ahead of me. Terrific cook, heartwarming smile, looks great in a bunny-girl or maid outfit.

2. Nagato Yuki

» A quiet, serious girl with short blue hair who can be roused to action and transform into an ass-kicking superhero at a moment's notice.

3. Suzumiya Haruhi

» A loud, obnoxious, manipulative, controlling, willful, stubborn, but admittedly very attractive girl with shoulder-length brown hair. Excels at everything she does. Damn difficult to be around, though.

We move on now to step (2): Do background research. The majority of that is available in the information given for the last question, but it seems vaguely that I've forgotten some details...hm...what was it? Oh, it'll come to me later. You know how it is; you walk into a room and completely forget what it was that you came in there for; so you retrace your steps and go back where you came from, and then, determined, you go back into the other room, only to forget once more...Well, all that to say, I won't worry about it right now.

Now for step (3): Hypothesis.

Hypothesis 1: I love Asahina Mikuru.

Step (4): Experiment

I walk into the club room, marked with the hastily pasted "Literature Club" tag on the door. Asahina-san is the only one there at the moment, the others not having arrived just yet. She is busy pouring finely steaming water out of a hot-pot into a lilac-sprayed teapot on the counter.

My heart gives that tell-tale thump as I look at her, tenderness welling up like a hot spring in my chest. I step into the room and close the door softly behind me.

She looks up, her red hair bouncing as she does so, and gives me a smile. God, that smile! So cute! So alluring! In addition, my mind is still reeling from the knowledge that something besides her hair is also bouncing...

Quelling the reaction I have to snatch her adorable, frill-adorned body into my arms and cover her face with kisses, I casually put a casual smile on my casual face and walk casually over to casually prop against the counter next to her. Then I say, casually, "Hey, Asahina-san."

"Oh! Hi!" She beams back at me, setting down the hotpot and turning to face me. "How are you, Kyon-kun?"

Damn whoever told her that nickname in the first place. Once, just once, I want to hear my real name drop from her honey-like lips...but no, all I have is that stupid nickname that my sister, adorable though she may be, endowed me with instead of the much more distinguished "Onii-san." (sigh) C'est la vie.

"I'm fine," I say, watching as she reaches automatically to pick up the teapot to begin pouring tea into the cups lined up neatly on the counter.

Here's my chance to prove Hypothesis 1!

I hastily reach for the teapot at the same time, so that our hands collide suddenly, sending electric tingles from the tips of my fingers into my spine. Ah...this feeling! It must be love, right? Of course right. I look up at her to confirm her expression...does she like me back?

My thoughts, however, are very rudely interrupted by the sloshing of piping hot liquid onto my hand and the sleeve of my jacket.

"Itai!" I pull back, nursing my burning hand as I squinch my face in pain.

"Ah! I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you!" Asahina reaches out to take my hand with one of her small ones, the other dabbing at my arm with a tea-towel, concern written in her wide amber eyes. Ah, bliss! It was worth it, in the end!

"What are you two doing?"

The sharp voice invades our little moment together. We glance up, startled, to see Haruhi standing there with a scowl, arms akimbo. The moment is rather effectively wrecked, like a butterfly splatting onto the windshield of a semi going 100 kph.

Step (5): Analyze results.

Well, honestly, I can't say that I really have any results to draw from this. Out of the ordinary, I mean. Yes; touching Asahina-san makes everything go woozy, but isn't that a normal reaction from touching a beautiful, older girl? If I'd had a few more minutes, maybe, enough time to draw her close, touch her shining hair, lay a tender kiss on her forehead, maybe...

Well, I guess it's back to step (3).

Hypothesis 2: I love Nagato Yuki.

Now, judging from my first reaction when I'd met Yuki, I'd have to admit I would have laughed at myself for even considering this option. Let's face it; Yuki is not my type. She's too quiet, too serious; also, I don't prefer her looks.

But they say, "Never judge a book by its cover." (har har har)

With Yuki, it's been the experiences that we've shared. The way she's saved my life, more than once. They way she felt when I held her out of concern after her battle with Asakura Ryouko. There's something about her outward fragility that draws me to her, makes me want to protect her; but her inward toughness is surprisingly sexy.

Onto step (4): Experiment.

On days when she isn't in the Literature Club room (AKA SOS Brigade looted-property-and-abducted-members-storage-room) I can know with almost precise certainty where she will be. Thus, when I poke my head into the library after school hours, it is no surprise to me to catch a glimpse of her short, silver-purple (did I say blue earlier on?) hair trailing her like the whiff of a lingering perfume as she passes down the next aisle to disappear between ceiling-high bookshelves.

Unlike Asahina-san, I know that I can be myself around Yuki. I don't have to put up a "casual" act to try to convince her I'm "cool" because, quite frankly, this girl has already kicked my ass clear across a battle-field classroom before. In other words, if I ever wanted to seem "cool" to her, my chances have dwindled to nil.

Following her between the rows and rows of books, I find her kneeling on the ground, deeply engrossed in whatever heavy book she's picked up this time. I squat down next to her, pushing the book down slightly so that she has to look up, and say, "Hey" with a grin.

She blinks, and I think I can detect a little startledness in her expressionless face. She seems to be working her mouth around the word as she replies, "Hey" in reply. Ah, Yuki! Well programmed that you are, you are finally beginning to pick up the vernacular language! (And at the same time, I seem to be adopting your habit of using annoyingly long words...hmm...)

"Whatcha reading?"

Wordlessly, as always, she lifts the book so that I can see the cover. The title's in Japanese, but I still can't understand what it says, as always! Sometimes I wonder if Yuki secretly hides tiny little light novels in a fake book cover or something, and pulls them out when nobody's looking. She can't honestly be interested in that fatiguing stuff, can she (Augh! More long words! Yuki, you're rubbing off on me!).

Speaking of rubbing off...I notice a tiny smudge on the tip of her nose. Hesitantly, I reach out a little, as if to inspire an inquiry. But of course, Yuki, who has turned back to her book, doesn't ask, and I am left with my hand stupidly hanging out in midair. Even though I know this would be a good opportunity to test out Hypothesis 2, there's still a sense in which I can't really bring myself to take the initiative. She's a little like a antique masterpiece painting; you don't want to touch it lest you destroy its purity. But I've touched her before without tainting her, right?

I swallow and gently rub my thumb against the tip of her nose, marveling at how smooth it is, and at the feeling of breathlessness that overtakes me when I do so. Such a difference from the tingling that I get around Asahina-san! I'm actually dizzy, and I pull my hand back quickly, as if afraid that I'll faint from lack of breath.

The expression in her eyes when she looks up at me makes my breath catch in my throat. "What's wrong?" she asks softly.

Remembering to breath again, I let out a little laugh as I rub the back of my neck awkwardly. "Ano, nothing much...you just had a bit of chalk on your nose, that's all. I just wanted to get it off, so...sorry if I disturbed you..."

She's still looking at me!

And then it comes. The smile. Small, yes, practically unnoticeable yes, but a definite smile! Whatever feeling I had before is totally eclipsed by how I feel now.

"Thank you."

I return her smile; no, I completely outdo it. And I must be blushing, yes, because my smile is so wide...ooh! But she has returned to her book, and I have no further excuses to continue touching her, so I get up and leave, casting one last glance behind me at her serious form bending over the volume.

Step (5): Analyze results.

At this point, I will admit I'm pretty confused. Because that feeling with Yuki...isn't that more of the deep feelings, rather than the tell-tale tinglies fabled in junior-high girl's thoughts? And yet, I can't really say. Not yet. What to do? How can I choose?

I suppose I need to test out Hypothesis 3: I love Suzumiya Haruhi.

Okay, let me just say now, of the three, this is the one I'm dreading the most. Touching Asahina-san's hand was enjoyable, and fun and sweet, and touching Yuki's nose was soft and warm, but any contact with Haruhi has more of the insinuation of the "painful" or "choking" or "smothering" effect, bordering on "life-threatening" should the occasion arise.

But I am a rational being, taking on an unbiased experiment in order to draw a concise conclusion on which I can base my results. Therefore, like any good scientist, I shall have to don the rubber gloves and protective eye-gear and hope for the best.

I meet her on the hill, going down that 45 degree angle of agony going up and tripping going down. She always goes my way, but sometimes I go out of my way to avoid her. Her and her rants; her and her bright ideas; her and her jerking on my tie to try to get me to see her point, as though half-strangling me will convince me of the veracity of her opinion. But today, I have girded up the loins of my mind (which makes no sense, anyway) and I call out to her, "Hey! Haruhi! Wait up!"

She pauses and turns back, that look over her shoulder of contempt but also smug satisfaction, and waits for me to catch up to her, puffing a little. We have reached the bottom of the hill by now.

She continues to scowl as she asks, "What is it? Anything exciting?"

"No...not...really..." I am still wheezing. Damn hill. Stupid, stupid hill. I find myself cursing it at every ascent and descent. I wonder if Yuki could use her powers to level the whole thing. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to walk home together."

"Oh." Her tone clearly indicates, That's so boring. Which means, You're so boring.

Yes, I'm boring. Get over it, Haruhi.

"Why exactly do you want to do that?" she asks, but she has continued walking, and gives me no sign of Go away.

"Well, we're friends, right? Don't friends usually hang out once in a while?"

"Friends? With you?" She pauses, still walking and looks up at the sky, tendrils of her brown hair blowing up against her face. Despite my feelings of vague terror around her, I still find my fingers itching to brush it away. But I can't.

"I guess so," she continues, "though I never thought of it that way before. Ne, Kyon, what do you do on weekends?" she asks abruptly.

I shrug. "On days when I'm not being coerced by you to go parading around town on my day off, I guess...sometimes I take my younger sister to see my grandmother..."

"Somehow I still can't see you as an older brother. What else do you do?"

Why this determination to see what I do with my time off, anyway, Haruhi? Exactly why does it matter to you, when all I am to you, really, is a little pawn, or a white/black piece knocked off from an Othello board, spinning as it hits the ground, futilely trying to get away before it gets stepped on? Then I think back. "Friends?...I guess so, though I never thought of it..." Could it be, is she trying to get to know me? Trying to find out what I like? Trying to connect?

There are a few moments around Haruhi when she seems particularly sweet. 99% of the time she's a total pain-in-the-neck, getting everyone around her to respond to her whims without a care in the world of what they think about her, and then everyone once in a while, she turns 180 degrees and suddenly, wham! She hits you with just how extraordinary she actually is. And those moments remind me of why I even bothered with Hypothesis 3.

She is still looking at me, waiting patiently for my response. The sunlight is fading, leaving cold air of biting breezes swirling around us, and she shivers a little. I don't like to see that. Don't like to see her cold.

I stop and pull off my jacket, watching her eyes widen as she pauses a couple of steps ahead of me. Closing the distance, I gently drape my jacket around her shoulders, our eyes locked, searching the other's, asking questions, answering questions. The backdrop sunlight casts a reddish-golden glow on her brown hair, drawing out individual strands in shining highlights, and I enjoy how tiny she looks in my jacket, small hands clutching at the sleeves to draw it closer around her. I wonder how she feels, wonder what she thinks about the remaining body heat I left on the cheap polyester lining. Even though now I am the one without any sort of covering, a deep warmth spreads in me from being even this close to her.

Haruhi, you are stunning.

"Well, shall we continue?" I ask gently, stepping back. Predictably, she doesn't thank me, but briskly continues, scowl deepening, if anything. It seems she is actually trying to outpace me.

"In any case, you don't have this weekend off!" she announces, seemingly annoyed at her own previous question. "We have work to do...to find aliens, time-travelers, and espers!"

My mind shorts out suddenly. "Oh," I say.

"What, you have a problem with that?" she snaps.

"No." I was answering my previous question to myself. The thing that I'd forgotten earlier. I've retraced my steps; here I am, remembering. The details that were missing about the three girls of my acquaintance who I am attempting to discover which one I am in love with. One is a time-traveler, one is an alien, and one is...well, kind of a god.

In other words, rationality is useless. Because that sort of thing, the things that normal people know obviously don't exist, do exist. My world as a rational being is falling around me. The scientist must abandon the scientific method because rationality no longer works as I thought it did.

Ah, man. Now I have to start all over again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1:

Although this seems so obvious that I'm laughing a little at myself as I speak, I must make something absolutely clear from the beginning:

Haruhi Suzumiya is not an ordinary girl.

Oh, you say, with a knowing nod and wink. Especially if you already know her. Yes; she's the kind of girl who, on the first day of our first year of high school, announced to the class, completely seriously, "I have no interest in ordinary humans. If there are any aliens, time-travelers, sliders, or espers here, come join me. That is all!" And, up until the fateful day when I mentioned it to her, she wore her hair in varying numbers of ponytails depending on the "number" of the week. The moment I noted it, she cleanly cut the whole mass of her thick brown hair from her waist to her shoulders. Furthermore, she is always serious. Always. She approaches life as though it is a CIA mission which will fail and blow up the world if she doesn't miraculously save the day.

Of course, the irony here is that Haruhi goes even more unordinary than that. Because it's the other way around. Unless we, meaning the SOS Brigade (myself, Itsuki, Mikuru, and Yuki, don't keep her in check, she herself might blow up the world. Or recreate it. I never really understood how that worked, really, so I won't bother trying to explain it. Get Koizumi or Nagato-san to explain if you really want to know, but I have to warn you, the chances of you actually understanding what they say is pretty slim. The point here is, Haruhi Suzumiya is a god. Not a goddess; if you met her, you'd know what I mean. She can create and uncreate at her will, which makes being around her a little unsettling, like pampering a walking time-bomb. The other thing is, she isn't aware of it at all. So rather than risk telling her and all unfortunate consequences that might occur thereof, which I don't get either, the four of us hover around like a bunch of satellites around a super-nova, attempting to keep her from getting bored with this world and erasing it as easily as a a crayon scribble through a half-finished picture.

I feel like I've already touched on this, but it seems necessary to make a few more things clear. I am completely, 100% ordinary. I was raised in an ordinary, middle-class family, with one younger sister, and I've gone to very ordinary elementary and middle schools. I have brown hair and brown eyes and am exactly average height and weight. I even get average grades. I have no super powers. I'm not even bad or good at any particular sport! So why me? Why do I get pulled into this?

My accomplices are all extremely extraordinary. Let me introduce them, briefly.

Yuki Nagato: the alien.

Mikuru Asahina: the time traveler.

Itsuki Koizumi: the esper.

You see what I mean? Here I am, happily living my everyday, ordinary life, and then I run into her, and she forms the club, and now suddenly I'm surrounded by unusual people! Jeez, talk about making one feel small...imagine how powerless I feel now. Okay, I will admit, there was a time when I wanted life to be a little spicier. I did actually hope that aliens, time travelers and espers existed. That's old news. Doesn't everyone want that, though? Is there actually any soul on earth, besides 82-year-old ladies who only concern themselves with dog food and hairnets, who doesn't wish that maybe there was something else highly unusual on this planet? No, you don't count.

Anyway, where was I? Somehow I feel like I've been standing on a tall box labeled "Soap".

Well, today is officially the first day of my second year of high school. Whoop di do. After the usual, boring-beyond-words introduction and attempt to hype up the new Freshman and convince them that they've just become proud students at the most interesting school in Japan, classes commence. Thanks to Haruhi, of course, I am in the same class as her. Again. In fact, I do believe we are sitting in the same exact seats toward the back, next to the window, that we were in last year, one level up. I did mention that she can will things into being, right? Well, here is a prime example. I would be all too happy to be sitting on the other side of the classroom from her, but apparently, according to Koizumi et al, she has "chosen" me. Argh.

Let me demonstrate to you exactly what the implications of this are.

For the first ten minutes of homeroom, with the busy buzz of students hovering around and the teacher up front for the most part ignoring us and saying obligatory statements for appearance's sake, Haruhi sat behind me, scowling out the window, intensely ignoring me. For this ten minutes, I was divided between hope that she'd finally given up on me, and disappointment that the most attractive girl in the class was pointedly avoiding speaking to me or looking me in the eye.

Then, quite suddenly, she leaned forward, reached clear around me, and yanked my tie to force me to stare her in the eye. "Ne, Kyon! I've thought of it at last!"

"Grakkyspakktt..."

"Oi, enunciate, Kyon! It's so annoying when I can't understand what you're saying."

I grabbed her hand, which was currently cutting off my available oxygen supply, and firmly tugged it from my tie. "Ahem...I said, 'What did you finally think of at last?'"

"You could have said that from the beginning, you know. I've thought of how we can combine current activities of the SOS Brigade with my idea for a popular music band."

"Is that so," I deadpanned. Guess there goes all hopes for the disintegration of said club this year. Not like I had any to begin with.

She nodded eagerly, not noticing, or maybe ignoring, my complete lack of enthusiasm. "See, rather than just write normal music, I could write music with secret messages, you know, inviting aliens to come visit earth, or reaching forward in time to tell time-travelers to travel back to meet me."

And how exactly are you going to do that, Haruhi?

"Baka. People have been writing secret messages into their music for ages. Take Shostakovitch, for example. He wrote a piece with a 'cell'-that's a bunch of repeating notes—that spelled out his name..."

"Um...there aren't any 's's or 'h's on the keyboard..."

"It's too complicated to explain to a numbskull like you. Anyway, he had his name battling this other guy's name in his piece, and his finally won, and the other guy was too stupid to notice! And Bach found out that by putting four clefs around a single note he could spell out his name..."

Are you getting any of this? Because I sure am't. Is that a word, am't? You can say, "You sure aren't", but you can't say, "I sure am't". How is that fair? Anyway, rabbit trails aside, Haruhi was, once again not making any sense.

"Ooookay. So let me get this straight: assuming that there are beings from outer space which can hear your music, to begin with, what makes you so sure that they'll even be able to get your message? What if they can't understand the code thingie to begin with?"

"Baka." (You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means). "Obviously, aliens are way more intelligent than humans." (Knowing Yuki, I can't argue with that). "They probably already have the code figured out ahead of time. Maybe they're even correlating with time travelers to figure out what we'll be doing in our future so they can come up with a code for it ahead of time."

"If that's so, why do we even need to make the song? Wouldn't they already know what it says without us having the write the song?"

"Of course not. Because in order for them to remember it from their past travels, we have to write in our future so they will be able to know what it is for our present and their past."

Once again, if anyone can figure out exactly what she means, please come tell me and save me the constant headaches. We're out of aspirin, again, and Mom keeps on grilling me as to why it disappears at such a fast rate.

I sighed in defeat. "Whatever you want, Haruhi." I turned back around and slouched down in my seat.

This time, she didn't bother with my tie; she just grabbed the hair on the top of my head and pulled it backwards so that I was looking at an upside down view of Haruhi. I groaned. Do you ever quit, woman?

"In any case, the first step is to acquire some instruments. I want you to reserve the music room for this afternoon after school, and make sure that there are two guitars, a piano, a bass guitar, and a drum set. Oh, and a tambourine, for Mikuru. She really has no musical sense."

Having heard the opening song of the horrendous video Haruhi made last year, I can't argue with that, either.

"And make sure that all the amplifiers are set up right. I hate that screeching sound you get when the reverberations are messed up."

I cocked an eyebrow at her, which was probably completely ineffective being seen from my upside-down status. "Anything else, Hime-sama?" I asked sarcastically.

She thought for a moment. "Yes," she said finally. "Get me some coffee."

Haruhi never does mince words, does she? I hope by now you understand the situation so we can spare both of us the earlier elongated explanations.

Thus it was that I found myself in the purloined music room (having apologized profusely to the actual music club, who needed no more than the words "Haruhi Suzumiya" to understand that their case was hopeless), looking around bemusedly at the various equipment around me. Frankly, I have a little understanding of electronics, but absolutely nothing about music. I got as far as beginning to uncoil the various cords and looking back and forth bewilderedly between "input" and "output" when I heard very soft footsteps behind me and turned around.

Now is a good time in the plot to introduce you to Yuki Nagato, AKA, the blue/purple/grey/silver haired alien/schoolgirl extraordinaire. It was no surprise to me that she was holding not one, but three heavy books in her arms.

Sorry, Nagato-san. No chance for you to read right now. I need your help.

Her eyes caught mine and I couldn't help but smile. Yuki is definitely what you could call cute, although it took me a little while to get to the point where I could say that. I walked over to take the books from her, noting the small look of surprise crossing her face, and said, "Ano...Yuki, I'm really sorry to ask you this but...you wouldn't happen to know anything about setting up music equipment, would you?"

She nodded gravely, and wordlessly walked over the tangled mess of cords. I hesitated before setting down the books and walking toward her. She stopped me with a look. "There is no need for you to get involved," she said. "I am capable of doing this myself."

But isn't it bad for a guy just to stand by and watch while a girl does all the work?

"Nevertheless."

I sighed and leaned up against the curve of the baby grand piano, watching her slim figure working through the amps and cords. Despite the fact that I knew she was stronger than she looked, I couldn't help but notice how she struggled a little to lift the heavy amplifier.

Hurriedly, I rushed over and forcefully grabbed onto the handle, my hands overlapping hers slightly. "Seriously, just let me help, okay?"

To my surprise, a look of annoyance crossed her normally emotionless face, and she refused to let go, trying to yank away. Determinedly, I held on, attempting to slip her hands off of the handle. She put a hand on my chest, stubbornly attempting to push me away, with perhaps a little more force than necessary.

"Oi!" We looked up simultaneously, a little guiltily, to see not only Haruhi, but also Koizumi, with the ever present smile, and Asahina-san, carrying a tray of tea. I used the opportunity to finally shake her off and take the amp away.

"Nagato-san. Where does this go?" Expressionless again, she pointed silently to one corner, and I triumphantly carried my booty where the indicated.

Haruhi made an impatient sound as she crossed the room. "Kyon! I thought I told you I wanted this all set up by the time I got here!"

Has the word "please" never entered your vocabulary, Haruhi? Or the concept that maybe you didn't give me enough time to set up even if I did know what I was doing?

Koizumi, bless him, laughed a little and picked up a pile of cords. Evidently, like Nagato-san, he instinctively knew these things. "It'll take about ten more minutes," he told Haruhi, who merely sighed and sat down at the piano, playing a cord or two experimentally.

I took the rare chance of Haruhi being momentarily distracted to run an approving look over Mikuru's form. Haruhi had decked her out in a sky-blue stewardess outfit this time, though of course the hem of the skirt was a little higher than in a real outfit, and the bulging lines around her chest showed how tight it was. I enjoyed the fact, personally.

My thoughts were cut off rudely as Haruhi exclaimed, "Oi, Kyon! Where's the coffee!"

Oh no! I forgot the coffee!

Twenty minutes later, the first ten having gone to Haruhi scolding me while the others set up, and the next ten seeing me frantically run to the nearest coffee shop for two lattes, one caramel mocha and two iced teas, I arrived back in the music room, incidentally bumping into two of the real members who were bemoaning the loss of their room outside in the hall. Haruhi had already set herself up with one of the electric guitars, and was having Nagato-san show her (wordlessly) how to do some of the melodies on the upper parts of the neck. Koizumi, drat him, had taken over the drum set. I had to admit that even his practicing sounded good. Asahina-san was sitting on an amp in the corner, tambourine forgotten in her lap, and watching with a sweet smile. Ah, her smile! So adorable! Yet once more, I ignored the impulse to pull her into an embrace.

Instead, I walked over to where Koizumi was playing the drums. "Um...we have a problem," I started. I pointed at the bass guitar on the floor. "That is the only instrument left." I pointed at the drum set. "And that is the only one I know how to play. I can't read music at all."

"That's completely irrelevant, Kyon," Haruhi piped up. "Besides, you don't have to read music to play the bass. Just learn the music by ear."

It sounds easy when you say it, but sorry to break it to you, we're not all you, Haruhi.

I threw a frustrated glance at Koizumi, hoping I could at least win this argument with him. "Please, Koizumi. I really don't know how to play bass at all."

Koizumi shrugged a little embarassedly as he struck the snare expertly. "Sorry to say, but I've got absolutely no sense of pitch whatsoever." He smiled apologetically.

"Seriously, have you even tried?" Haruhi asked, still focusing on her guitar.

"No..."

"Well, then, get your ass over there and pick up the instrument!"

I sighed, giving in at last, and picked up the bass, adjusting the strap around my shoulders. To my surprise, it felt somewhat natural.

"Now try playing the strings," Haruhi said, and I did. And I liked it. I was as surprised as anyone.

But, that's Haruhi. If she wants me to play the bass, like she wanted me to be in her class this year, and wanted to be around aliens, time-travelers, and espers, then I will play the bass.

That's just the way it is.

The "rehearsal" ended, an hour and a half later, Haruhi completely ignoring the timid knocks coming from the other side of the door, and, my fingers sore from the heavy wire strings, I stretched and began switching off the equipment. (That much, at least, I know how to do.) Haruhi faced us all with a grin as she slipped the strap of the guitar off her shoulders and placed it in an upright stand.

"Okay! That was all right for a first rehearsal, but I want you all to practice before tomorrow, okay? Tonight, I'll write up some chord charts, and we'll meet here again."

The other three headed for the door, but I stayed firmly planted where I was in the room, in front of Haruhi, arms crossed. When she attempted to get around me, I blocked her path. She tried the other direction, and I blocked that, too. Before you go anywhere, Haruhi, you've got to listen to me.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Get out of my way, Kyon."

"No."

The little lines around her mouth stood out whitely as she pursed her lips together. "What do you want?"

I took a step closer and firmly placed both my hands on her thin shoulders. She gasped a little, suddenly seeming smaller. Every once in a while, I could get her like this. I have to admit, it felt good to have some control over her for once.

"Look. You've got to understand. You can't just kick people out of rooms like this. At least give them a little time, maybe every other day. After all, we've got other activities to do in our own clubroom, right?" Although I would rather do anything than participate in her pointless activities in that room, it was worth a shot to mention it. I, at least, have a little respect for other people.

She seemed to think it over, and then lifted her chin proudly. "Well, of course we can't take the room from them every day. That would be indecent. Okay, so we'll take the room on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays, and maybe Saturdays if we have an emergency, and they can have it the rest of the time."

She said it all as if it had been her intent to do that from the beginning.

I let go of her shoulders and stepped back. It was better than nothing. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

She stood there for a minute, awkwardly, as if she wanted to say more, and then abruptly passed me en route to the door. "Ja, then." She paused once more, indecisively, and then dismissed that thought and exited the room.

I took a sigh of relief. You see now what I have to put up with?

**Author's Notes: ** Yes, I promise this won't deal exclusively with music stuff. But toward the end of the original series (I never bothered to watch series 2, hearing it wasn't as good), she expresses interest in forming a band, so I thought I'd start with that and see where that goes. Oh, and by the way, I've changed Nagato-san's name (in this chapter) but I maintain that she can smile. Not yet, not anytime soon chronologically, but it is possible.

Here are some translations. Feel free to inform me if I missed any.

Baka: idiot

Hime-sama: princess

Ano...: um...

Ja: later


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2:

Let me tell you a little more about Mikuru Asahina.

Wow, what an abrupt beginning. Sort of epic, like "Call me Ishmael". No, wait a second, who am I kidding? No, it isn't. Sorry about that; forget everything I just said, except the very first line.

Mikuru Asahina would appear to be, from every enjoyable angle of her small-but-voluptuous body, a normal, beautiful, ditsy, 3rd year high schooler. It shouldn't come as any surprise, therefore, that after the insanity of Haruhi Suzumiya, Asahina-san comes as a welcome breath of fresh air. She is sweet, she is beautiful, she makes delicious tea. In short, she's the ultimate Yamato Nadeshiko with whom most boys, though they won't admit it, desire to settle down with and begin making adorable little mini-Asahina-sans with.

As aforementioned, however, there's a catch: Asahina-san may be from this world, but she's not from this time-dimension. So really, she's like an antique china doll: all I can do is look, not touch.

Or so I thought.

Mikuru had already told me, several times, that getting involved with her was a bad idea. Well, I have a pretty good idea of why. Obviously, the situation is complicated by the fact that...I'm not even sure how old she is, in her own time, in this time, or if she's even allowed to have an age. And when you take into consideration that she can't just hang out in this time dimension, or whatever it is, it makes it a little impossible that the two of us could settle down and...oh, dear, it's very complicated.

With all this in mind, you can guess my confusion and probably my wide-open mouth expression when, post "rehearsal", Asahina-san approached me and whispered in my ear to meet her in the club room in ten minutes.

Okay, now ladies, listen up, this is important: When a girl says she wants to "meet" with a guy after school, alone in an enclosed space, the first thing that goes through the mind of the guy is, "OMG, she wants to have sex." The thoughts that follow that might be along the lines of: "Wait, you're an idiot. She just wants to talk", "Wait, you're an idiot. She just wants to confess her love to you", "Wait, you're an idiot. She just wants to make out", or, of course, "OMG! She really wants to have sex!" The final variety is generally reserved for air-headed jocks, but may include attention-starved computer geeks, the ecchi-manga-addicted guys, and, on rare occasions, normal guys like me who have just had their arm accidentally brushed by the over-sized upper-story load of certain red-headed maid-masquerading moe chicks.

Fortunately, that wasn't the case with me. And even if it was, I wouldn't admit it, so shut up.

Ten minutes passed agonizingly slowly. I had actually sprinted up to the Literature Room and was waiting, leaning up against the window-sill, with the window cracked open slightly so that the fresh breeze was blowing my hair slightly and the darkening sky silhouetted my figure, like a male supermodel. I stuck the pose and held it.

Ten minutes passed. Fifteen minutes passed. At twenty minutes, the sharp corner of the metal window sill was biting into the back of my legs as though it were a miniature poodle held in its owner's arms too long for a picture, so I broke my position long enough to get up and stretch, massaging my posterior gingerly.

Asahina-san chose this moment, of all times, to enter, slightly out of breath, carrying a tall stack of papers, and observed me there, bending over and scratching my butt with my face screwed up from the pain.

The laws of the universe are against me, I swear. I bet this was all Haruhi's idea.

I stood there for a minute, as full appreciation of how idiotic I must look was still filling my numb brain, and then I shot upright suddenly and forgot that that particular window opened to the inside.

THOK.

"Itai! Crap, darn, jeez, frick frick FRICK!" Under the circumstances, I allowed myself that much, at least. But the pure ears of Asahina-san must not be sullied by actual language, of course not.

"Kyon-kun, are you all right?" she asked, hurriedly dumping the papers on the table, half of which slid off onto the floor, and crossing the room. Noticing that the papers were scattered all over and taking flight from the wind blowing in from the cursed window, she stood, paralyzed, torn between wanting to help me and knowing that she'd just mixed up very important papers.

"It's okay, I'm okay," I muttered, though my head was screaming, "I hate you!" at me. I knelt down next to her and began picking up papers. A glorious jolt of electricity passed through me when our hands accidentally brushed. I noticed her blush, and pulled my hand back, awkwardly. Every boy knows that when a girl does that, it means she doesn't want him to touch her, right?

"Soooo, what was it you wanted to talk about?" I asked, casually, as we managed to get all the papers back in order again, albeit much more rumpled this time.

She appeared to be thinking about how to word her answer for a minute, and then she blurted out, "We should go out together!"

Did I just hear that right? You, you heard that too, right? Nah, I must be dreaming.

"What...what I mean to say is," she amended herself, blushing scarlet, "that there are certain matters of importance which I can't tell you in the current circumstances, so we need to find some free time to discuss it together."

Uh huh. That's about as clear as a muddy puddle, Asahina-san. But you're cute, so I'll forgive you.

"What kind of matters of importance?" I asked carefully.

"That...that's the sort of thing we need to discuss, you see."

Not even remotely.

"Okay," I said, giving up. "I think Haruhi is letting us off the hook this Sunday. Why don't we meet for lunch?"

She nodded vigorously. "That would be good. But...don't let Haruhi know, and if you do, don't make it sound like a date, and if you do make it sound like a date, don't make it sound like anything else is going on between us, okay?"

I raised my eyebrows and blinked twice. "Okay."

Sunday arrived, and I carefully chose the table at the coffee shop we'd agreed to meet at. Naturally, I was fifteen minutes early. When you're in the SOS Brigade, you start to acquire the paranoia of punctuality. But I also wanted to make sure to be there on time for my date-which-must-not-sound-like-a-date with Asahina-san.

This time, she didn't arrive late, but exactly on the money. The minute hand of the clock above the cashier had just shifted to straight up as the bell above the door rang when she entered, sweetly, and my heart gave a little soft thump at the sight of her in her layered, blue-checkered dress and soft white sweater. Occasionally, the brain shifts from its normal, semi-functional state to grey mush that would flow out the ears if I allowed it. This was one of those times.

I smiled as I scooted over on the cushioned bench that ran against the wall on one side of the table to make room for her, my arm conveniently placed around the back of it. She smiled back at me and, oblivious to my hard work to choose the most comfortable bench on one side and the hardest chair on the other side, sat down across from me.

I gave an inward sigh. Oh well, it couldn't be that easy, could it?

"Well, did you want to order first, and then discuss that 'matter of importance'?" I asked her, watching as she settled in to the hard metal chair.

"Okay," she agreed cheerfully, and took up her menu. I watched her, enjoying the way the soft light glinted off the open window behind me and cast little rainbows on her face. After the waitress came and took our orders (Earl Grey tea with milk, and coffee, black), she leaned forward with her eyes huge and her expression serious. I didn't notice either, though, because when she leaned forward, the front of her blouse and what was under it pillowed against the scratched faux-wood table top.

"Kyon," she started in the low tone which was so different from her normal cutsy voice, "there is an urgent matter which I must discuss with you."

Yes, you've said that already. Anything else?

"What I have to say must be kept in absolute secrecy, understand? Don't mention it to anyone except myself, Yuki-chan, and Koizumi-kun. Otherwise, the consequences could be absolutely disastrous.

"In essence, what is going on is this..."

The waitress took that minute to arrive with our drinks. I considered face-palming, or maybe even palm-facing, which is the other way around, but decided against it. Instead, I quelled the multitude of questions in my head by concentrating on my coffee, black. After a sip, I considered that perhaps manliness could suffer a bit of sweetness and sneakily reached across the table, not noticing that hers was headed in the same direction.

An electric feeling started in my hand when mine touched hers en route to the sugar. It was strange, and yet very enjoyable at the same time. A little like someone was tickling the palms of my hands, except that I'm not ticklish, so rather it's what I would imagine it would feel like if someone were to tickle the palms of my hands.

By the time I had finished the lengthy inner monologue in my head, Asahina-san had pulled back her hand with a blush. Ah, that blush! It was like a opening rosebud, if I was to wax poetic, which I never do, of course. It spread from her adorable button nose clear across her cheeks and tinted the tips of her ears. It was so cute, in fact, that I wanted to elicit it again, so without further hesitation, deviation, or whatever that other thing is, I reached across the table top and took her hand in mine tenderly. After all, every boy knows that when a girl does that, it means she wants him to touch her, right?

Um...I have the feeling I'm incredibly mixed up, somehow...

"Go on," I prodded her gently, "tell me what's up."

She gazed back and forth between my eyes and her hand, and then decided to accept the situation, ostensibly for the purpose of it looking more natural as she leaned forward and began whispering.

"In essence, there are certain factions among the three groups which we represent: the aliens, the espers, and people like me. You see, not everyone agrees how best to deal with Haruhi Suzumiya. Some have even suggested killing someone close to her in order to see how she reacts and observe the eruption of data."

"No. Way." I deadpanned. "I never would have guessed."

Asahina-san nodded vigorously, oblivious to my heavy sarcasm. "Right now, as Koizumi-kun has informed the three of us, there are certain espers who have stolen a secret Chinese tool of the Time-travelers and intend to make sure that Haruhi Suzumiya comes into contact with it."

That was actually interesting.

"What kind of weapon?"

She jerked her head up and looked around, as though searching to make absolutely sure that no one was watching, and then lowered her head even closer to mine. I must admit I was thoroughly enjoying being this close to her, not to mention the fact that her other hand had come up to clasp mine urgently.

"The Won Ring of Pawah."

I wrinkled my brow. Was she kidding? "Serious? There's something like that out there?"

She nodded earnestly. "It's a weapon exclusive to the future, but somehow they slipped in through cracks of time and planted it in this world. Where it is now is completely unknown to even them; they were only able to send through the Ring with their limited power. But if Haruhi Suzumiya gets her hands on it, it may mean the end of the world as we know it."

I frowned. "So exactly what does the Ring do, anyway? Make you invisible?"

She shook her head sadly. "If only it were that simple..."

"Then what?" I was starting to lose patience.

She leaned forward and whispered into my ear, "It has the power to let the one who bears the Ring hear the thoughts of the people around them."

I pulled back in shock as it all made sense. I hardly noticed as Asahina-san let go of my hand with both of hers. I even forgot the coffee, black. Certainly, I wouldn't want Haruhi to hear what goes on inside my head. That would be horribly embarrassing. But beyond that, if she found out from any of the four of us that she was a "god", capable of creating and destroying the earth, mayhem would ensue. I could only imagine the consequences, thinking back to giant blue destructive forces in an enclosed space, hammering huge grey buildings into powder.

I took a deep breath as I leaned back against the plastic cushions of the seat, thinking deeply to myself. Asahina-san began pouring milk into her tea and stirring it, as though nothing had happened.

Suddenly I thought about what I could do if I was the Ring Bearer. Things like, know what material would be on the final exams, and actually figure out what the heck went on in a teenage girl's head. Useful things, like that. On the other hand, it seemed like the Ring was just floating out there, waiting to fall into someone's hands. It could end up with anyone. Heck, it could end up with my sister. That was an amusing thought. It could end up with my mother. That was a far less amusing thought.

Suddenly, Asahina-san's expression changed to her normal vacant, irresistible look. "Oh! Haruhi-san!" I spat out the mouthful of black coffee I'd just taken onto the table, partly because I hadn't yet added sugar, and partly because of what Haruhi would think when she saw Asahina-san and me together at a coffee-shop on a Sunday.

As the bell on the door of the coffee shop rang, admitting the brown locks and yellow hair-ribbon that we both knew so well, I stood up quickly, feeling guilty for the split second before pain shot through my head again. THOK. Why was it that all windows opened inward right now?

Haruhi looked as though she was trying to decide whether she should be angry or concerned right now, and settled on dismissive, as she marched up to our table and slammed her palms against it, causing the cups to jump, sloshing dark liquid over their sides into the saucers.

"Guess what?" she announced, and I fought the groan that arose in my throat, but lost, rubbing the back of my doubly-abused head in pain while I sat back down.

"What," I said, with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.

"I've found some mysterious happenings."

"No. Way."

"Shut up, Kyon." At least Haruhi knew sarcasm when she heard it. "I've been listening around" (eavesdropping, I amended in my head) "and I heard the most interesting things. At first I couldn't believe it, but I asked around, and lots of people are saying it!"

"Saying what, Haruhi?"

She smirked as she leaned down and peered at me in the face. "People are hearing voices in their heads. That's mysterious, isn't it?"

I shot a glance over at Asahina-san, whose eyes were huge. I tried to play it off. "Actually, that's called schizophrenia, Haruhi. It's a mental disorder that..."

She waved a hand, cutting me off. "No, no, this is different. Like, this one girl in the first years, everyone thought she was totally sane, right? But then she suddenly became really paranoid and thought everyone was saying weird things about her. And then, two days later, she was back to normal. And then there was this other girl..."

It didn't take long for me and the red-haired girl on the other side of the excitedly gesturing Haruhi to figure out what was going on.

The Won Ring of Pawah had already started to move.

**Author's Notes: **Okay, this isn't a Lord of the Rings cross-over, I swear. (Not that the Ring is even of the same type, but...). Regarding those of you who have told me that I should watch the second season, thank you! I may do that in the future, but right now I don't want to muck up this plot by knowing what happens next. But I will try to get around to it!

Oh, and for the record, I've managed to misspell "traveler" every single time I've written it, except for the one just stated. I always, always type "traveller". Why the heck is that?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 7:

The next time we saw each other, it was considerably awkward and strained.

The first conversation went something like this:

"Hey."

"Yeah."

She proceeded to completely ignore me throughout the entirety of homeroom and straight up to lunch. Every once in a while, I would sneak a glance back at her and find her staring at me with voluminous eyes. It made me blush, I won't deny it.

The second conversation, after lunch, went like this:

"So."

"Yeah."

"Um, how are you?"

"Fine. How's your head?"

"Better."

"I'm glad."

"Yeah."

Long awkward pause. Then,

"Thank you."

...

"Yeah, um, I'll see you in the clubroom."

"Yeah. Okay."

And life went back to normal. As normal as life can be around Haruhi Suzumiya, anyway.

My mother had practically fainted when I'd come home the night before. I was a wreck, but I hadn't known it until she started screaming and pointing at my head, which was dark-brown with dried blood and matted hair. While my father attended to my mother, my little sister "tsk"ed at me and treated and bandaged the back of my head, all the while lecturing me in her high-pitched voice.

I think Haruhi was worse for the wear. She'd adopted a sudden wary look about her, like a rabbit that knows its hunting season, and would often start up at the opening or closing of a door. I was torn between wanting to hold her and comfort her, and knowing that if I did so, I'd wreck her dignity, so in the end I just became more brusque and sarcastic, which really wasn't a good way of resolving the situation at all. Hey, I'm a guy, okay? Give me a break.

Ever since the praying-mantis incident, the four of us lower SOS Brigade members had been hot on the lookout for the Won Ring of Pawah. As of yet, there still was no indication of where the Won Ring might be, which was getting a little annoying. It seemed to pass hands quickly, mysteriously, and whoever had it was keeping quiet, knowing that if they announced the fact that they could hear other people's thoughts, they'd be branded as not only "crazy" but also "contagious". Occasionally they'd let something slip, and we'd hunt them down like mad, but by the time we got to them, the Ring had passed on. Most likely, the people who had it weren't aware that it was the consequence of the Ring at all.

And so by now we were all stumped, waiting for revelation, and in the meantime Haruhi had lost interest in the Ring for the most part and was going on about the "band" again.

"No, no, Mikuru-chan, don't play it here! Play it here, here, and here!" Asahina-san smiled weakly and attempted to comply with Haruhi's loud demands, tapping the tambourine nervously. The instrument, which had been decorative enough, had acquired various ribbons and silent, tiny bells, added by Asahina-san or Haruhi, as if apologetic for her epic-fail lack of rhythm. Like the girl herself, it was quickly becoming a piece of functionless "stage art". I didn't mind the view, and I doubt any guys in the audience would, either.

For my part, the bass was quickly becoming a habit with me, in dutiful compliance with the wishes of Haruhi. It came with the added benefit of the wordless lessons in the company of Yuki after rehearsals, from time to time. No, no, no, don't get me wrong. I mean wordless as in she'd just show me how to play...What am I thinking? I swear, my brain is going in extremely strange circles recently.

I looked over at the blue-haired girl, who had already mastered the difficult solo passage on her own guitar and was just running over it for appearances' sake. "Ne, Yuki, could you show me something really quick?" I asked. I was still trying to get used to calling her "Yuki", but ever since that moment in the library, she seemed to be getting more and more human. I enjoyed this side of her.

While Yuki demonstrated palm muting with graceful ease, Koizumi was still playing the drums in his own little world, or so it seemed, and Haruhi finally gave up, throwing her hands in the air for good measure, and said, "Fine, fine, just stand there! Don't tap the tambourine, don't move, just stand still and look pretty, okay?" Asahina-san's eyes started to water with tears, and impulsively I decided to stand up for her.

"Oi, Haruhi, give her a break, okay? She's trying her hardest."

"You stay out of it!" Haruhi snapped, and stomped over to the piano. At least what had happened last night hadn't destroyed the effect of her sharp tongue.

I sighed and commenced paying attention to Yuki's instructions. But Asahina-san gave me a little shy smile that melted my heart and effectively demolished whatever educational intent Yuki had been going for.

It was Thursday, and yet again Haruhi had deemed it necessary to have an "emergency" rehearsal, kicking out the rightful inhabitants of the room for her own purposes, despite my protests. I saw them peering in with hopeful/hopeless gazes, but Haruhi stubbornly held her ground, ignoring the rest of us completely and working over a new series of borrowed chords she intended to incorporate in her newest "masterpiece": Hi no Shi.

I sighed and tried to concentrate on the technique Nagato was showing me, until she whispered, without missing a beat, "We have a new lead on the Ring."

I definitely missed the beat, to the scowls of the otherwise inattentive Haruhi. "Really?" I whispered back. "Do we have a better chance than last time?"

She nodded almost imperceptibly. "Taniguchi-san of the same class as you was seen by Koizumi-kun picking up a ring of the given description, and according to a couple of his friends, his actions have been more and more nervous recently."

Uh oh. Taniguchi having a hold of the Ring could only spell out bad things. I made a mental note to stay at least 5 meters away from him tomorrow, lest he discover certain feelings I thought I might be developing for certain girls of my acquaintance.

"Since you are the closest of his acquaintances among the four of us, we need you to be the one to retrieve the Ring from him."

Damn.

"Keep your mind clear, and don't think any suspicious thoughts. On no account should you let him know either the purpose of the Ring, or your intent to get it from him."

Thanks, Yuki. Really, that's very helpful.

She shot me what might have been a look of sympathy. "Don't worry. Koizumi-kun and Asahina-san will be backing you up."

I sighed. "All right. I'll try during lunch tomorrow."

Haruhi stood up from the piano abruptly. "Rehearsal's over," she announced, and, collecting her belongings, stalked out of the room.

Koizumi gave a sideways look at the rest of us. "Nagato-san, did you tell him?" She nodded, and Asahina-san stepped forward to put one of her small hands on my shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't worry," she said, while tingles went up my spine. "The three of us will be lending you support."

Oh, thanks. That's very comforting.

.

The next day, I tried to "keep my mind clear", but it wasn't easy. For one, Haruhi had already taken note of Taniguchi's strange behavior. This was already a huge warning bell. For another, Taneguchi kept sidling up to me and giving me winks in Haruhi's direction. That set the red lights flashing.

But he kept mostly quiet during homeroom and class, and, though I continually kept glancing in his direction, there was, as yet, no sign of the mysterious Ring. Of course he wouldn't be wearing it, but even if he was, I didn't even know what it looked like yet. It was quite aggravating.

I kept watching the clock, so intent on quelling the butterflies in my stomach, as if I were going to step onto a stage and give an oration at noon, that I missed the teacher's questions several times and sank deeper into my chair, hoping to turn invisible from the snickers of my classmates.

Lunch rolled around, finally. The teacher left mysteriously today, leaving the students up to their own devices. I think teachers permanently suffer from the misconception that if they leave the class, the students will continue in the well-behaved pattern that they demonstrate while the teacher is there. Oh, well. They say that ignorance is a kiss...no, a fist...damn, English phrases don't make any sense!

As per the usual, Haruhi whisked off to do her daily patrols of the school, and I took a seat with Taniguchi and Kunikida, always keeping an eye out for the Ring. I wondered if I could sneak a look in his backpack, and kept trying to find excuses to do so.

"Oi, Taniguchi, you remember that movie you said you were going to let me borrow?"

"Yup. Just one minute," he said through a mouthful of rice.

"No, it's okay. I'll get it myself," I said, reaching for the backpack.

He swallowed with a little difficulty and waved his hands. "No, sorry, I forgot to bring it today. Don't worry, I'll bring it tomorrow. Out of curiosity's sake, why are you so interested in my backpack?"

Oops. It looks like I was a little more transparent than I thought. "What makes you think I'm interested in your backpack?"

"Yeah, what's up, Taniguchi?" Kunikida chimed in, so I knew that my behavior didn't look suspicious to anyone else.

He thought for a minute, as though he had something on his mind, and then shook his head. "Nothing, my mistake."

There was a little awkward silence, and then he finally broke it by saying, "But speaking of being interested, wooie! You really have the hots for that girl, don't you?"

I felt my heart stop still. "What girl?"

"You know." He winked audibly (which still doesn't make sense). "Suzumiya-san."

My face went red. "Haruhi is nothing but an obnoxious brat," I said, and stabbed at the tamago in my lunch viciously. "It's not my fault she drags me into everything. I'd switch you places, if I could."

"Uh huh." That look in his eye was far too knowing. Hastily, I changed the subject. "What about you? Don't you like someone right now?"

He looked down sheepishly. "Well...sorta, but she's a third-year, so I don't even think she notices me..."

I closed my eyes. "Let me guess, she has red hair?"

"Yeah..." He took a deep sigh, and, Ring or no Ring, I could see pictures of a maid-costume clad Asahina-san dancing around in his head. I wanted desperately to wring his neck, but restrained, especially as he gave me a sudden sideways look and scooted several inches away from me.

"But don't you think you're a little too serious, Taniguchi?" came Kunikida's voice from the other side. "You're not going to ask her to marry you or anything, are you? I saw you holding an engagement ring earlier." Wow, even Kunikida was ahead of me. Apparently I was a terrible sleuth.

Taniguchi blinked, and then laughed, rummaging around in his backpack. "You mean this?" he asked, and then...I beheld the Ring!

It was somewhat large, with a wide gold band, and a flat square gem set in the middle. At first glance, it appeared to be a regular diamond, but inside, brilliant miniature rainbows were dancing of an amber cast. I caught my breath and tried to not to think about what it meant. Taniguchi stroked it with a little absent smile on his face, and I could swear I heard him purr, "My preciousssss..."

"Hey, let me see it," Kunikida said, and pulled it from Taniguchi's grasp. His eyes suddenly opened wide as he held it, and he cast a sharp glance over his shoulder at a certain bashful, purple-haired girl who sat two seats away from him in class.

"So that's it," he murmured to himself quietly. "That's why she's been behaving so..."

"Oi, quit talking to yourself," Taniguchi admonished him. Apparently, as soon as you let go of the Ring, you forget that you ever had the power to read other people's thoughts.

Kunikida turned to retort, but the next instant the Ring had been plucked from his hand by another girl in the class. "Hey, what's this...Ooh!" Her eyes went wide, too, and I attempted to keep myself from face-palming or punching the desk, and half succeeded, face-desking instead.

The girl scowled as she turned to one of the other girls she'd been eating lunch with. "I can't believe you'd say such things, Reiko-kun! How could you be so mean?" She put the Ring down on the desk and marched over to the girl, but then forgot exactly why she was so upset. The next girl picked it up, and exclaimed, "I am not!" to Taniguchi and hit him over the head.

You can see where this is going. General mayhem ensued, but it was a sort of stop-action mayhem, in which everything seemed to be run through a strobe-light, and in the end, everyone was angry with everyone else and no one knew why. In the meantime, I tried desperately to get my hands on the Won Ring of Pawah, but it seems fate was against me; it kept getting farther and farther away.

Of course, I can't really figure out why no one realized it was the Ring's doing. It should be obvious, right: I'm not holding the Ring, I'm not hearing people's thoughts. I'm holding the Ring, I'm hearing people's thoughts. But apparently the Time-Traveler fellows of Asahina-san who had made the Ring of Pawah had endowed it such that unless you'd been told, you wouldn't know.

Haruhi took this moment to reenter the scene. After casting a bemused glance around at the noisy classroom, she frowned and walked over to where I was sitting. "Kyon, what on earth is going on...why are you staring at me like that?"

She was speaking to the boy who just happened to have the Ring at the time. A smirk was planted on his face, and he kept looking from her to me. Despite my best efforts, I was still about seven meters away, so he had to be reading Haruhi's thoughts, not mine. In any case, the implications of the look were pretty clear.

She marched over to him and whacked him on the shoulder. Then she noticed the Ring.

"What's this?" she asked curiously, and I took this moment to panic.

As she reached for it, I bolted over, maybe even flew, I don't know, and lunged for the Ring. I was unable to grab it, but at least I knocked it out of her hand so that it flew with amber rainbows sparkling in the air, and was caught again by Taniguchi.

"What, Kyon, you afraid that someone might propose to Suzumiya before you?" he asked with a smirk, and I thanked whatever gods other than Haruhi that were out there that I was standing far away enough to be out of the range of the Ring's power.

I sighed. "No, it's not that..." but Haruhi was already marching over to Taniguchi and again reaching for the Ring of Pawah.

Again, I somehow got over there before her and grabbed it from him. I had a brief few seconds of hearing foggy voices in my head, among which were Haruhi's "What's up with him? I wonder if it has anything to do with that ring?", Taniguchi's "Hey! That's mine, I found it!" and Kunikida's "Hmm...that purple-haired girl isn't so bad looking...I wonder if I should ask her out?" before I tripped over Haruhi's outstretched foot, placed there for that purpose, and the Won Ring went flying out the window (which fortunately opened to the outside).

We all watched it fly, as if in slow motion, and then drop to the ground three stories below outside. I sent a panicked look to where I knew Asahina-san and Koizumi to be watching around the door of the classroom, trying to signal where it had went, but Koizumi was explaining to a teacher outside what they were doing there, and Asahina-san just smiled sweetly.

Far below, I watched as an unsuspecting stray cat prowled up to the Ring, lapped at it curiously, and swallowed. A second later, it gave an unearthly yowl and tore off madly, as though it was demon-possessed.

Well, we were safe for now, at least. But who knew when the Ring would show up again?

**Author's Notes: **Sorry this chapter is so poorly written! I knew it needed to get done, but I was plumb out of inspiration, and this is the result. Gomen nasai!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 3:

Sometimes I wonder whose boredom we have to fear more: Haruhi's, or Nagato's.

You will, of course, remember back to the computer club president incident. You know, the one where the four of us were sent on a mission to find him, and suddenly his apartment turned into a desert and we fought the cave cricket? Yeah, that. And all because of a stupid symbol Haruhi had randomly created for the SOS Brigade's home page. And guess why we ended up fighting the thing? I'll give you a hint: the cause is not of this world.

Well, it just so turns out that there was another computer bug "survivor", and a different member of the computer club had run into it a couple of months after the president had. To sum up, because how we got from there to here is boring, some random person randomly asked us to find the missing member, who hadn't shown up to the club for almost three months, and so we randomly found ourselves at the member's apartment, which just so happened to be in the same complex as the president. You can see where I'm going with this.

Wait, before I zip right into the battle, there is one little thing I should mention.

It was a quiet afternoon, the motion of the Ring of Pawah having stumped us for the time being, and Haruhi left directly as soon as the club "rehearsal" in the stolen room ended, as I suspected, to haunt the halls for more information. Koizumi gave Nagato a knowing look, and she gave me a look in return. Her mouth said, "I need to show you something on the bass." Her eyes said, "There's something else going on."

Whatever. I just hope it doesn't involve me.

This was the second time Nagato had given me a "private lesson" on the bass. And when I say "private", I don't mean what your mind automatically jumps to...or is just my mind that jumps to that? In any case, I must admit I was thoroughly enjoying the close proximity, even though she didn't have Asahina-san's rack, or Haruhi's looks, because ultimately Nagato just had a thing about her that was enjoyable to be around.

It didn't hurt that in order to show me a certain fingering last time, she'd slipped under the strap of the instrument, wedging herself in between me and it, and pressed my fingers on the strings with her own tiny hands. Now, any guy in such a situation with an attractive girl will start to get...you know...but before it could get awkward, she slipped back away as if she hadn't touched me at all, and continued with the lesson.

Moments like those with her made me catch my breath and turned my thoughts fuzzy, and secretly I found myself hoping that the same situation would arise this time.

To my surprise (and, I will admit, disappointment), she merely put away the guitar after everyone else had left, and stood facing me with her usual "I am about to attempt to relay information to you through words, which is admittedly flawed and inefficient, but since you are only human, it is the method which is necessary to use" look.

I sighed, put down the bass, and faced her. No such luck today.

"Kyon. Do you remember, about half a year ago, when Koizumi and I fought off the cave cricket at the computer club president's room?"

Frankly, my dear, it would be rather hard for me to forget.

"Such a situation has arisen again, and this time it might be significantly more dangerous. The species that we will be dealing with this time is more powerful than the last one, and it is absolutely necessary that we have you help this time."

Thanks, Nagato, but I have no special powers whatsoever, so exactly how the hell do you expect me to help?

"In human terms, what Koizumi and I need is a distraction in order for us to access its weak points and consider the best method of attack. In other words, you will be the bait."

At this, my jaw actually dropped open. You've got to be kidding me.

"I was never more serious before."

I resisted groaning and instead sighed deeply. "That's all well and good, but exactly how am I going to be bait without winding up as lunch?"

"My superiors have agreed to let you borrow a specific defensive power for the space of ten minutes. I will show you how to use it now, and transmit it to you once the battle has begun."

"So you should be able to take it out within that amount of time, huh?"

"Not necessarily. Depending on the situation, which we have yet to assess fully, it could take up to an hour."

I closed my eyes and shook my head wearily. "Fine, whatever. If I have to be lunch, I guess I'll be lunch."

Now she took a step forward and looked me firmly in the eye. "That won't happen."

I raised an eyebrow. "Wait a sec, you said my defense will only last for ten minutes. What if it takes you longer than ten minutes?"

She held out the palm of her hand, and I could see, even through the multiple regenerations she'd gone through since almost exactly a year ago, the thin white line of a scar that ran across it.

"It means that I will be at risk of damage, not you," she said.

You gotta admit, that's pretty sexy.

After a brief introduction, which consisted mostly of showing me exactly how to put out my hand at a 55 degree angle to my body, which might have been the trigger of the forcefield, as Nagato called it, or maybe because she just thought I'd look cool doing it, I apparently "knew" how to use it, and thus we shall jump straight into the battle.

Like last time, the room blew into a yellow desert of sand, as far as I could see, and myself, Koizumi, and Nagato were left standing there, waiting. I was expecting her to enable the power at once, but instead she merely looked straight ahead.

Um, Nagato? Did you forget?

"You only get ten minutes with it. I am waiting for the most opportune moment to activate it."

Ah...Well, at least I felt a little better.

"That's good."

Um, Nagato, I didn't say that aloud.

"I know."

Or that.

She pointed straight ahead, like last time. "It's here," she said, and I looked up in astonishment as the black and blue swirling cloud began to form in front of us, like a blackhole that might suck us in. I felt the whirl of spinning non-existent air whipping at my clothing and hair, and, I must admit, enjoyed Nagato's appearance with the wind from this angle.

The cloud began to disappear. Legs formed from the strands of mist, and then, acid-green, the praying mantis loomed above us.

No seriously? Last time it was a cricket, this time it's a praying mantis? Last time I thought it was creative. Now its just a little old, like a novel where the author ran out of ideas and started recycling old genius.

It gave us all a strange look, tilting its head from side to side, and cleaning the bristles of its front legs between the huge, incisor-like fangs in front of its mouth. Still Koizumi and Nagato stood there, motionless, and I realized suddenly that they had already begun the process of analyzing it, while it stupidly stood there, considering which of us to eat first, or whether it should ignore us completely.

"Kyon," said Koizumi from behind me in a low tone, "I'm going to start the first attack. It will give you approximately 5.6 seconds, and then it will charge. At that point, you need to distract it in any way possible."

Great. Exactly how am I supposed to do that?

He gave me a sideways look. "Throw something at it."

We. Are. In. A. Desert!

"That's not very good sentence structure, you know. Anyway, here I go!"

I saw him materialize the golden, miniature sun-like globe, and begin to run forward as though he was going to serve a volleyball. At the last minute, he tossed it up and smacked it against the praying mantis. It exploded against the enormous insect, and shattered into a fire-work display of sun-spilt splinters.

It was when Koizumi took on a grim expression and stepped back that I started to worry. "Now, Kyon!" he yelled, and I fumbled around in my pockets for something, anything. It just so happened that I had the stub of an eraser in my pants, so I fished it out and threw it at the praying mantis. It had zero effect, naturally, but it did succeed in planting its attention solely on me.

Oh, glory hallelujah.

"The force will be with you," Nagato said, and gave me a little shove.

I took off in a sprint, hardly noticing that Nagato had begun the string of commands in her toneless, unvarying voice, which would trigger the power she'd given me.

DOM DOM DOM came the sound of its legs behind me, not the _skitter skitter_ of a normal-sized insect. If you'd added one more "O", it would have described my fate. I wondered vaguely, ignoring the sand that crept into my shoes, if this was how an ant felt.

It was way faster than me, and I panicked, leading it in a stupid sort of circle, trying to aim away from Nagato and Koizumi, who were busily (so I hoped) trying to figure out how to destroy the thing.

It closed in...I could feel its razor-sharp front legs graze my back...

"Use the force, Kyon!" Nagato said, raising her voice ever so slightly to be heard over the whipping sand and the pounding footsteps of the mantis. I gasped and twisted around, flinging out my hand as its gigantic mouth closed in on me. Nagato, this had better work.

To my surprise, an enormous shock of blue waves erupted from my hand, just like what Nagato had done before, and blew the mantis backwards. It halted, waving its front legs in the air, as if confused as to what had just happened, and I pulled back, panting, and blasted it again.

This time, it dodged and came straight for me. Oh crap. I ducked down and rolled backwards as it passed over me, taking a minute before it realized I was no longer in front of it and spinning back around. By that time, I'd already taken to my heels in the opposite direction. Koizumi took the moment to aim his sole attack at the creature, while Nagato simultaneously aimed her particle-disintegration thingie mabob at it. This combination probably would have taken out the previous cave-cricket, but it had little effect on the mantis, which merely healed itself with "Scarab". Again. No originality, people!

I had worked my way over to the two of them, meaning Koizumi and Nagato, and paused for breath, panting, "Now what?"

"Reassessing," came Nagato's cool voice.

"Reassessing my ass!" (Koizumi raised an eyebrow and gave me an appraising look which made me flinch a bit. Incidentally, I wouldn't mind Asahina assessing my ass). "Why don't you attack it before it heals itself?"

"It's against the rules."

"Rules?"

"Attacks may only be made one at a time, so it is imperative to choose the best course of action from among physical attacks, magical attacks, defensive attacks, and special items."

I groaned and smacked myself on the forehead, but Koizumi looked over at me sharply and said, "It's coming again. We need you to lead it off."

I took a deep breath and took off running again. The mantis really was stupid. It still hadn't noticed that all of the damaging attacks were coming from the other two, and continued chasing after me again.

Once more, I threw my forcefield at it, and continued running. But let's face it; running through sand is tiring.

I tripped and face-planted royally in the sand. Oh, shit.

And again it caught up to me, but this time it didn't seem intent on biting me or anything like that. Instead, it stood in front of me, while I turned, crab-like on the sand, and watched in shock, its body shaking and its red lights glowing brighter and brighter. I threw out my hand again, but this time there was no effect. The power had run its course.

I heard Koizumi call out, "Retreat, Kyon!" but I was motionless.

A moment later, the mantis self-destructed in bright green goo.

.

I'm dead. I have to be. Look, there's no more golden sand. Everything is dark. And I'm warm...

And...heavy?

I opened my eyes and looked up. Above me, a fan with one broken blade spun lazily against the dark ceiling. On top of me was Nagato, who smelled of acid burns.

I gasped and sat up, shaking her, only slightly noticing Koizumi across the studio room explaining things with his legendary smile to the young man who appeared dazed and confused.

"Nagato...Nagato-san, wake up! Please..."

She blinked, and I heaved a sigh of relief. She lifted her head and looked straight into my eyes. "I'm fine," she said. "Commencing reconstruction."

The burns on her back and legs began to disappear, much to the consternation of the computer-club member, who gave a little gasp and passed out on the floor. Heart of a lion, that one.

Nagato emotionlessly pushed herself off of me and stood, brushing off non-existent sand as if it still clung to her clothing. Despite her regeneration, she looked a little unsteady on her feet. Even Koizumi frowned and asked, "Nagato-san, are you all right?"

I also stood, and put an arm around the slight body. She leaned against me, closing her eyes. "Just...a little...dizzy..." she managed.

Nagato, don't push yourself too hard. Humanoid Interface or not, you still have a body. You are still physical.

She looked up at me with what I could have sworn was mischief, though the fading light from the opaque-curtained windows may have tricked my eyes. "Hai," she said, softly.

**Author's Notes: ** I can't believe how many nerdy jokes I'm putting in here. Not that I have anything against nerds. Most of my best friends have been deeply engrossed in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc. for ages, which means that I've caught my fair share of it, too. But I do apologize. It just...had to happen...too much to resist...lol

Wow, over 1000 hits already! Kimochi ureshii deshou! (or something like that, watashi no Nihongo ga honton ni warui desu ne...)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 9:

"What?"

Haruhi stood from where she had been sitting in the armchair next to me, wide-eyed, mouth gaping open. "What?" she repeated, directing her question at the grim-faced Koizumi. Incidentally, I generally prefer it when he's grim to his usual unreadable smile. But right now I'd prefer the smile a thousand times over.

"Mikuru-chan's missing?" Haruhi frowned and walked across the room to where the esper and alien duo were standing, Yuki's face expressionless as always. Koizumi merely nodded.

"When?" I found myself asking, considerably worried. After all, the peerless Asahina-san out there in the swirling white of the freak blizzard...all alone! She could freeze to death! Or worse, someone might find her before us!

"We think she disappeared sometime in the night," Koizumi said, looking sideways over at Nagato for confirmation, which she did not give, unless you counted the solitary blink. "No idea why she would have gone outside in the middle of the night, but it must have been before the snowstorm started."

No, that girl is so adorably muddle-headed that she might have headed out during the blizzard, oblivious to the snow altogether!

Haruhi frowned, tapping her fingers against her chin as she thought. "In any case, we need to split into teams and go find her immediately!" Having thus made up her mind without anyone else's consent, as per the usual, she marched over to the closet by the entry and began pulling out warm coats, scarves, gloves, you name it, that I hadn't noticed when I'd put my light summer jacket there a couple of nights before. Maybe it had been too dark to see when we'd arrived. Maybe it was because Haruhi had wished that they would be there. Who knows, by now?

"Don't just stand there, Kyon!" she snapped at me, throwing a long, heavy, navy-blue scarf at me. "Start packing supplies!"

"Ne, Haruhi," I said, as Koizumi obediently disappeared into the small kitchen, "don't you think we should consider where she might have gone first? Maybe she's in the cabin afterall. Maybe she fell asleep somewhere or..."

"Don't spout nonsense! Of course she's out in the blizzard; where else would she be?"

I sidled a look over at Yuki, standing there motionless as Haruhi threw various garments which piled at her feet. She gave me the slightest of glances, as if to say, "If Haruhi wants Asahina-san to be out in the blizzard, she will be out there."

Oh, joy. Just when I was getting cozy in this nice, snug cabin. I cast a lingering look at the snapping fire and consigned myself to fate as Haruhi, dwarfed by enveloping layers of warm brick-red material, held out her fist, in which she held four matchsticks. We all knew the drill by now.

"Marked."

"Unmarked."

"Unmarked."

"And that makes me marked," she announced, holding up the last one. She sent a "don't you dare fail me" look in Koizumi's direction, who gave a sheepish smile and began packing flashlights, dried fruit, fire starter materials, and other "necessities" into a backpack. I automatically began to pack some of the supplies into another backpack. At this point, I wasn't sure whether to pity him or laugh at him, getting stuck with Haruhi, so I turned my gaze to the purple-haired girl who was, at the forceful suggestion of Haruhi, donning various garments. I wondered briefly if she did it just for show. In any case, of the three, I was happiest paired with her. At least I wouldn't have to worry about dying with her around. With Haruhi, I wouldn't be surprised to end up at the bottom of a canyon somewhere just because she'd mistaken a random rabbit for Asahina-san.

Haruhi marched over to the door and opened it, letting drifting remainders of the dissipating snowstorm seep in with the cold air. Hands on hips, she tilted her chin up at the rest of us.

"Here are the rules: Whoever finds Mikuru first wins. The losing team has to pay for the train tickets home."

Has it ever occured to you, Haruhi, that some things in life aren't a game? That she might actually be in trouble?

"When somebody finds her, send up a green flare," continued Koizumi, a bit more calmly, and held up the long-sticked object he held in his hand like a magic wand. If this were the world of Harry Potter, you would be Cedric, I think. And you would die. Hahaha. "If anyone gets in trouble, send up a red flare, and yell 'Expelliarmus'." He sent a wink in my direction. Damn you, esper! Did you read my thoughts?

"That didn't make any sense at all," commented Haruhi from her post at the door, like a greyhound ready for the opening on the gates. "C'mon, everyone! Ready, set, go!"

She dashed out into the cold woods, yelling back at Koizumi, "Come on! Do you want to lose?" He gave us an apologetic smile and started out after her.

I looked over at Yuki, who was methodically tying a light-blue hat on her head. It matched her coat and mittens. Actually, it was a good color on her. "Ready to go?" She nodded silently, and we followed the others out into the icy terrain, closing the cabin door securely behind us.

The sun had come fully out as the snowflakes discontinued their dance, still partly hidden behind the looming grey clouds, and blinding us with its rays on the frozen snow. Unlike earlier when I had stood out here with Haruhi this morning, the snow crunched slightly with the thin icy crust. Around us, dark firs heaped their protective branches in clumpy areas, leaving the rest of the hills barren in clearings.

I trekked ahead in vocal silence, making deep footprints which Yuki noiselessly followed in behind. We continued like that for what seemed hours, though the sun stubbornly insisted that it wasn't even noon yet. I considered conversation, but it was her who broke the quiet first.

"Over there," her voice came from behind me, and I twisted around where my feet were planted in the deep snow, trying not to fall, to look where she pointed. Not far away, the tree-less area of snow dropped off, its jagged outline barely visible against the barren snowscape. Without saying another word, she tread over to the edge of the ravine and stood there motionlessly.

I slid the backpack I was carrying from my shoulders and placed it carefully against the trunk of a tree, and walked to join her at the edge of the cliff. Peering down, I could see, far below, the weaving of a frozen stream and low banks on either side. Watching the alien beside me, I noticed that her eyes were roving like searchbeams, scanning the bottom and the sides of the cliff face. I tried to imitate her actions, but it was hopeless. I definitely couldn't see anything but the white on dark green of snow-encrusted firs and the sneaky silver of shallow ice.

Suddenly, she pointed down and to the left. "There."

"There? You think Asahina-san could have gone down there?"

"Is down there. I am only ascertaining the most effective route to descend."

"You found a path?"

She blinked, a stray flake catching on her eyelashes. "Yes. A path," she agreed.

Despite my slight fear of heights, I shuffled forward to see where she pointed. "How did you already know she was...Augh!"

The yelp was more surprise than fear, as I felt the soft snow beneath my feet crumble, but suddenly it did turn to fear as I began to fall. I clawed around for anything that might be stable, but she reacted first.

In that brief second, I felt her arms catch around my waist and hurl me to the side. Belatedly, I seized her as well, so that she was carried by my heavier momentum, and we rolled, over and over, creating a lop-sided pattern in the fresh snow, hardly aware as a full two feet of the soft sides of the cliff collapsed and poured softly down into the ravine like cream into a cup of tea. At last our momentum halted, and I lay there, panting, slightly dizzy, trying to get my bearings.

Inches away, lying in the snow, Yuki was not panting at all, but looking over at me critically.

"You are unharmed?"

"Yeah. Thanks. Again."

"There is no reason to express gratitude to me."

My heart still pounding, I looked straight up at the grey sky, fringed with the lace of evergreen tops. Grateful as I was to her, it annoyed me slightly that she had saved my life at her own expense so many times, and the only thing I had ever been able to do for her had been that one moment in the library. For a moment, I almost wished I had superpowers. But Yuki as a "maiden in distress" was even harder to imagine than Taniguchi as a "maiden in distress". I smiled a little impulsively as that image came to mind.

My pulse steadying, I looked back over at Yuki, still staring at me. "Are you alright?" I asked, aware for the first time that she might be hurt.

"I am undamaged."

"Oh. Okay, then."

I inched closer, leaning on my side so that I could sustain my weight with one arm, reaching across her into the snow, and looked down at her. Her expression did not change as she met my stare unquestioningly. Her hat had fallen off somewhere during our tumble, and her hair stood out in purple contrast against the sun-sparkling snow. She was attractive like that, I finally admitted to myself. Why? Impulsively, I took off a glove and gently brushed some clumped ice from the side of her face. I caught my breath as I did. Her skin was warm under my touch.

Her skin was warm, and the snow was cold. The damp of the snow that coated the several layers I was wearing was beginning to numb my backside, but the hand that traced her cheek was tingling warm. When did you begin to thaw, Yuki? When did you begin to change under my very eyes? Was it at the library? Was it before?

I wish I could see you smile, just once. Because the snow around us is biting cold, but you are warm; you are becoming more human with each passing minute.

"Have you rested enough?" Her voice broke into my thoughts, and I lifted my hand from her skin reluctantly to put the glove back on.

"Hai. Are you ready?" I sat up and pushed myself to my feet, holding out a hand for her.

"Of course." She took my hand, but only out of courtesy for me, and raised herself gracefully. Likely she had been ready the entire time but was only waiting for me to catch my breath. She pointed back toward the tree I had left the backpack under. "You should get that."

"Ah...yes." Was it just me, or had it sunk down into the snow a bit? I grimaced, brushing off the snow around the bottom and hoping nothing inside had gotten wet. "Then, we're going to find the path?"

"I already found it. We will be using it. It is slippery, so be careful."

Not like I have anything to worry about, being around you.

She held out her hand, palm facing me, to signal me to halt. "I will go first," she stated, and hesitant though I was, I let her. She turned and began treading shallow footsteps across the snow, which I followed with my deeper steps. Flecked frozen crystal began to float around us again, catching in the silver hair ahead of me. I guess Haruhi had decided two feet in the middle of July wasn't enough.

"Yuki, can I ask you something?"

Her eyes, staring straight ahead, did not blink as she answered, "Dozo."

"Since it seems like you already know what's going to happen before it happens, why is it that you always save me at the last minute?" And what did that moment in the library mean?

"Omniscience, which is not altogether part of my programming, is different from omnipotence. And there is a stipulation which states that due to human incapability of receiving over-stimulation in extenuating circumstances, I must comply with the situation to make it seem as natural as possible."

"Ah." I think I caught some of that. Anyone care to explain?

"Here," she said, and I eyed the edge with slight trepidation. She slid one foot forward carefully, and then found a foothold, slightly lower. "Careful," she said, unnecessarily, and began to slowly descend while I followed at a slower pace.

The "path" was a mere half-foot wide, snaking across the side of the cliff, made slick and neigh invisible by the icy coating. I wondered where it led. After all, I still couldn't see any place that Asahina-san might be hiding. I concentrated on remaining steady as I hugged the cliff wall, praying that I wouldn't slip. I hardly noticed when the path began to expand, and then pool into a sort of landing, half-way down the cliff, until Yuki stopped and pointed straight into the snowy wall.

"In there?" She nodded. Excited that we'd finally found her, and concerned that she might be hurt, I shuffled forward and pawed gently at the snowy wall. Surprisingly easily, it crumbled under my fingers and revealed a large opening, about two feet tall. Inside, it was pitch black, but I could hear distinct whimpering.

Asahina-san's whimpering!

Yuki stood motionless on the other side of the mouth, letting me take all the credit for the rescue as I widened the opening as much as possible, and called out, "Asahina-san? Are you in there?"

I heard a gasp, and then a hopeful voice called out. "Kyon-kun? Is that you? Pl...please help! I'm so scared..."

"I'm coming in," I announced, and gingerly stepped one foot into the opening. At that moment, a rumbling above alerted me that yet another portion of the cliff above was crumbling under the weight of the snow.

"Yuki!" I called out, glancing over at her, but she had already stepped out of the range of the falling chunks of snow and rocks, and was signaling me to get into the cave. I hesitated only a minute before scrambling in, and the next minute the entire entrance I had just made was blocked over by a deep layer from the avalanche.

Blindly, I fumbled around in my backpack side-pockets, pulling out a small flashlight, and switched it on. The darkness of the cave melted away, and I flickered it around, finally catching the figure of Asahina-san, moaning a little and flinging her arms over her face as the bright light caught her off-guard.

I aimed it away from her and inched over to where she was. The cave itself was composed of hard rock above, a little higher than the top of my head, and soft earth beneath. It was insulated from the biting weather outside, but still had the vacuum-like cold of a deep cave. I could feel Asahina-san shivering as I reached out a hand to find her and she latched onto my arm as though it was a lifeline.

"Kyon!" I heard Yuki's voice outside, carving through the deep snow. "I am going to find Haruhi Suzumiya and Koizumi-kun. We will return and remove the snow."

"You can't do it yourself?" I called back, knowing it sounded selfish, but also knowing that she could rescue us in a heartbeat if she wanted to.

"It is outside the probability of human capability," came her muffled voice. I couldn't help but sigh.

"It's okay, just do it!"

"Haruhi Suzumiya would not understand. If I were to come back with the two of you, the story would not fit into her expectations."

I relented at last. "Okay, but hurry!"

"There is no need to tell me that."

"Be careful! Yuki...Yuki!" She had already left.

**Author's Notes: **Yeah, this will all make sense when the next chapter comes out. I swear, I didn't just throw them into a winter wonderland without cause. Chapter 8 next!

Update: LOL! I'm reading through the 5th novel now (yeah, I cheated). I didn't even know they already had a "snow mountain" scene! Auhhh...now I feel like an idiot. That's kinda funny. Ne, why didn't anyone correct me on that already? Oi oi, people, I shouldn't have to say this, but review already! Oh, and by the way, I haven't watched the second season yet, but I did watch the movie. OMG! Almost died! Even though I'd already read the related novel, or maybe that's the reason why. I started to tear up right about when the Yuki from three years ago told Kyon who was responsible for the 'ness. (That's the word I use when I'm too lazy to describe things, by the way. I'd use "Supercalifragilistic expialadocious", but like I said, I'm lazy and don't feel like typing all that out). Ehhhh...why couldn't Yuki have a little more expression in this world, huh? She was soooo cute!

Translations: (I'm really lazy with these, gomen!)

Gomen: sorry

Dozo: You're welcome, or please go ahead (and a lot of other stuff like that)


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 8:

It all begins, as always, on that drudgery of a hill up to school. My feet have formed magnetic paths on it by now, and I could swear that sweat was pooling down my face in exactly the same paths that they did last summer. God, two more years of this. I can't believe I'm only in my second year. Nnnn...

The happy thought then occurred to me that summer was approaching, which means a whole month of vacation. I cheered up instantly, considering the available options. Let's see: I could take a part-time job, I could join a sports club, I could...

"Ne, Kyon."

My feet suddenly felt heavier. I cast a glance over my shoulder. Yup, it's her. I should've expected.

With a grin, Haruhi Suzumiya trotted up the hill, barely even breaking a sweat, and fell into step with me. "What are you doing this summer break?"

And like that, all my lovely fantasies of free time vanished, little wistful wisps of pleasant thoughts rudely blown away by the tsunami called Haruhi. Because I knew exactly what was on her mind. She was going to say she's thought of an activity to do over the break.

"I've thought of an activity to do over the break, with the SOS Brigade."

Next she's going to say, This time, we're sure to find some mysterious happenings!

"This time, we're sure to find some mysterious happenings! I'm sure of it. Because the place we're going to is one-of-a-kind. The five of us, you, me, Mikuru, Yuki, and Koizumi, are going to be on top-lookout for mysteries. Ma, this world is so boring!" She flipped her brown hair over her hair disdainfully. I noticed it's gotten longer since this time last year. Wonder how much longer it'll be before she'll start putting it up in a ponytail again. She seriously looks hot in a ponytail. Wait, why am I thinking about such things?

Now she'll ask if I want to bring my sister along.

"Do you want to bring your sister along? She'll have fun, as long as we keep her out of trouble. On the other hand, the things that we'll be doing might be dangerous, so I expect you to keep a keen watch on her!"

"She'd probably like that, but this summer she's spending with my aunt Satsuki in Mie."

"Oh, well. In any case, we'll have to tell the others today after school."

How come the word "ask" hasn't ever entered your vocabulary, Haruhi? I frantically searched around in my brain for a reason to say, "I'm busy," but alas, there wasn't any. Figures. Most likely she's arranged it that way. She is a "god" after all. An annoying "god", but one with power and control nevertheless, aware of it or not.

"Where are we going?" I asked, half-dreading the answer. Maybe full-dreading the answer.

She winked and waggled a finger at me as we finally came to the place where the hill tempered out into the flat school yard. "Hi. Mi. Tsu."

Oh, just great.

That thought preyed on my mind all throughout class, when I watched Haruhi behind me, looking out the window with a scheming grin on her face, throughout lunch, when she disappeared emphatically to roam the school like a poltergeist without a soul to leech onto, all through the rest of class, when she appeared and the demonic grin spread and elicited the random word "Cheshire".

Full-dreading is now an apt description.

"Wow, Suzumiya-san really looks happy today, doesn't she?" commented Taniguchi when classes finally ended and Haruhi began collecting her books at lightning speed. In front of her, I too was piling my books into my bag, keeping one eye on her lest she dash out and drag me along by the tie. "I have no idea what's going on," I half-lied back to him, and had to leave his curiosity there, for Haruhi did indeed dash out at that point, and did indeed have a grip on my tie.

So it came that, with the proverbial "bang" the door to the Literary Club room, sad, ill-named previous Literary Club room, bolted open and Haruhi stood in its wake, one hand on her hips, the other preventing me from escaping, and grinned at the others in the room.

Ehh...other. Only Yuki is here so far. Sorry, Haruhi, your grand entrance has been spoiled by your own over-eagerness. Yuki didn't even look up, yet Haruhi undauntedly announced to the empty room, "Guess what, everyone? Starting the first day of vacation, we're going to spend a week in a bonefied, 100% guaranteed haunted house in the Nagano Mountains!"

Look, Haruhi, the only one here who cares is standing right next to you. You really don't have to bellow.

Yuki looked up for a minute, intoned, "Sou desu ka?" and returned to her book, as Haruhi swung me into the room.

"Ne, Haruhi, exactly where are you going to find a 'haunted house'?"

"Isn't is obvious? Tsuruya-san says that her family owns a cabin up there to escape the summer heat."

Can't blame them there.

"But Tsuruya-san says that after the first trip up there, they realized it was haunted. There are creaks and groans, and moving furniture, all of that! But Tsuruya-san is terrified of ghosts, so they haven't gone back since."

"Ah, then Tsuruya-san won't be accompanying us?"

"Nope." She grinned as Asahina-san meekly stepped into the room, like a blossom unaware of an oncoming thunderstorm, and Koizumi followed behind. "In face, we'll have the whole cabin just to ourselves!"

"Huh? Huh?" The red-headed beauty blinked confusedly. I'm sorry, Asahina-san, you've missed out on the grand announcement, let me fill you in...Wait, Haruhi! All to ourselves? As in the five of us? That can't be good...

.

This can't be good, I thought to myself as the taxi drove off back down the winding dirt roads and my eyes first beheld this Iron Maiden in which I'd have to spend the next week with the torture implement that was Haruhi.

Well, it didn't look bad, I had to admit. It was two stories high, on the smallish side but still affording some space. I'd need all the space I could get, though it seemed there was enough land around us that if I couldn't take it any longer, I could just bolt and wander the wooded hills for hours without encountering anyone else. It struck me suddenly exactly how secluded this area was. Being up in the mountains, it was considerably chillier than it had been back at school, but still the sun beat down on the dark-green branches, and the fresh air was filled with bird-song.

"Kyon! What are you dallying for? Pick up my and Mikuru's luggage and follow me!"

Oh, yes, your highness. Whatever you ask for, your highness. CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY THE WOMAN WON'T CARRY HER OWN LUGGAGE?

Koizumi gave me his ten-thousand yen smile as he collected Yuki's, plus his own, luggage. "It could be worse. She could have asked us to carry it all the way here, you know."

Oh, yes, you have just as much of a reason to gripe as me, I see. Yuki really only packs the necessities. Though today she is wearing a casual blue-striped shirt and knee-length shorts, it doesn't appear that she's packed more than two outfits besides. Haruhi, on the other hand, (besides the pack-an-adorable-outfit-everyday Asahina-san), seems to have packed enough clothing to change twice a day while anticipating every possible kind of weather condition or freak accident. My arms were starting to break off as I hauled the luggage up onto the porch and entered the door that Haruhi had already unlocked and disappeared into.

Inside, she was frowning as she paced the main room downstairs, rooted through the kitchen (amply supplied with dried and canned goods), prowled around upstairs, and came back down. In fact, she was pouting as she announced to the rest of us (who had collapsed, save Yuki, into the comfortable chairs in the main room, complete with fireplace), "It's too gloomy to find ghosts! All this sunshine drains me of ghost-finding energy, and they wouldn't come out like this, anyway, would they? It would defy logic." (You, missy, defy logic in every way possible already.) "Ma, if only the weather were a little darker..."

She glanced outside, but the sun still cheerfully glimmered on the countryside and played on the wooden floors inside.

And then she said the words which started it all.

"Hmm...you know what would make the atmosphere absolutely perfect? A freak thunderstorm...no, a snowstorm!" She laughed out loud.

Yeah, right. Like that's ever going to happen.

.

Dark silence stopped up my ears as I woke suddenly, eyes popping open to stare at the beamed ceiling above. On the other side of the room, which still seemed far too close a proximity, Koizumi's gentle breathing stirred in the hush.

What had woken me? Even though I'm a heavy sleeper, I know that sometimes loud noises (particularly those coming from a certain younger sister early in the morning) will rouse me. No; there was nothing, no creepy creakings of pacing ghosts, no wildlife hoots or howls outdoors, not even wind. Then I realized it was the silence that had woken me.

I got up, ignoring the cold floor beneath my bare feet, and tread quietly over to the window, pushing aside the flimsy curtains. My breath made smoky patterns on the cold window, but even through the fog, I could clearly see white, white, that was not the eerie blankness of moonlight.

Did it actually...snow? Haruhi, seriously. First cherry blossoms in winter, now snow in July?

I sighed and shook my head bemusedly, casting a glance over at the western-style bed I'd been in. Cold as I was, I didn't think I'd be getting anymore sleep tonight. That, and I was starving, but less for food...I remembered seeing hot chocolate in the kitchen earlier, which spiked a full-on craving.

That's it. I'm not going back to sleep.

I dressed as quietly as possible in my thin summer clothes, guiltily glancing over at Koizumi from time to time to make sure I didn't wake him. Treading down the wooden steps, I noticed a warm glow coming from the kitchen already and frowned. Did we leave the light on last night?

Entering, I saw that someone had gotten to my hot chocolate idea first.

"Kyon! What are you doing up?" Haruhi startledly looked up at me from where she was stirring chocolate and condensed milk on the stove. Then a smile spread over her face. "Did you look outside yet? Can you believe it? It's so cool, a snowstorm out here in July, I couldn't have wished for more!"

No, you probably could have. And that would be frightening.

"Maybe the ghosts will feel more comfortable to come out this way," she continued, looking up at the ceiling above her as if to dare them to descend right now. Then she shivered.

"Scared?" I asked a little mockingly. She shook her head adamantly. "No, it's just cold. I'd forgotten how cold snow makes everything. I sure wish we had a fire."

I thought I remembered some logs and kindling out by the front door. "Wait a minute," I told her, and opened the door to walk outside.

There was no wind, but the snow fell in heavy, clumpy flakes, thick and fast. Already, about a foot had fallen; it was fortunate that the front porch was covered by an overhang so that the logs hadn't gotten wet. Collecting an armful, I walked back indoors and started the magic.

Haruhi reappeared out of the kitchen a little later, while the yellow-orange glow was beginning to lick around the dark corners of the room. I'd already pulled two arm chairs up close, sensing that neither of us was getting back to sleep anytime soon, particularly not after having hot chocolate at—I checked my watch—4:30 in the morning. May as well wait for the sun to come up.

She handed me a mug and snuggled in under the blankets I'd draped over the arm of the chair, then reached up to turn on the light. No result. Frowning, she said, "That's funny. I could have sworn that lamp was working earlier. Oh well," she shrugged, "It's cozier this way."

Not that I can disagree with you but...

She shot me a look. "What? A crackling log fire, hot chocolate, a snowstorm outside, you, what could be more..." She broke off suddenly, blushing while she took a vicious gulp of her hot chocolate. I thought I knew what the next word was, but I chose to ignore the implications of that. It seemed she'd wished for more than the snow.

I sighed and gave into the situation. What's the point of arguing with a "god" who is ignorant of her "god" status? Besides...her brown hair, which I noticed she'd pulled back into a low ponytail, with the low light glinting off it...

Damn it, Kyon, now you're the one waxing romantic. With Haruhi, of all people. With HA-RU-HI. No, that's about as likely as Taniguchi ending up with Tsuruya-san. I sighed and stared into the flickers of the fireplace, letting my mind wander.

"Ne, Kyon." Her voice broke sharply into my thoughts. I lifted my head and looked over at her, frowning into the fire.

"Hmm?"

"What do you think the meaning of life is?"

Now, let the reader understand. With anyone else, I could expect that question to be as cliche as any other. It would lead into half-hearted, half-thought-out comments about Plato and Buddha and whatever else, both coming up with oh-so-original conclusions that noooobody has ever thought up before, and then dissipate into "Well, who can really know, anyway?" But this is Haruhi we're talking about. The one who could recreate the world at will just from feeling blue. When Haruhi Suzumiya begins pondering the meaning of life, world, beware.

That's why there was supreme caution in my voice as I asked, "Huh?"

Oh, very well done, Kyon. How very intelligent of you.

She looked up at me with a scoffing look. "Don't tell me you've never asked yourself that before. After all, is the point of living really to eat, sleep, work, just to live another day, just to find a mate and settle down and start duplicating?"

Come now, I feel like a lab rat when you say that.

"Well, is there any difference, really?" She sighed and slouched further down into the chair, putting down her chocolate onto the table to her right, poor little rejected cup of cocoa. You have lost the interest of almighty Haruhi. Don't worry, I'll drink you later. "Seriously, we talk about souls, and continuing on after life, but really, it's all very...terrifying..." She shivered, and I saw vulnerability creep into her expression. You didn't see that very often, so I scooted my chair even closer to hers and knocked on her head softly with my knuckles. She looked up at me, and the vulnerability of fear turned into the vulnerability of something else.

I liked that "something else". I wanted to reach over and scoop her up, ignoring the yells of protest that I'm sure would be loud enough to wake the dead or any restless spirits in the house, and pull her over into my lap, and hold her down like a cat that doesn't want to be held, and tug her closer and...

I gasped and pulled my lingering hand away, turning away as heat crept onto my cheeks. Why these thoughts, all of a sudden? Feeling her questioning gaze on me, I curled up tighter in the arm chair and refused to meet her eyes.

"I don't have an answer for you," I mumbled into the blankets around my chin. "I don't know why we exist."

She was quiet for a minute, and then tossed her hair in that careless way of hers. She'd returned back to "old Haruhi". I felt a little disappointed. "Anyway, what's the point of life if you don't live it to the fullest?" she said, loudly, and hopped up from the chair, wrapping the blankets like a shawl around her. "Anyway, the sun's coming up, look! Let's go watch it together."

I grumbled as I got up begrudgingly from the cozy spot. "What's the point? It comes up every day. The only difference is that today we'll freeze our butts off watching it do so."

She sent me a daring look. "Don't tell me you're too chicken to brave the cold? What, you call yourself a man?"

I narrowed my eyes and joined her at the half-opened door. "Fine, Hime-sama. But don't blame me if you get frostbite."

She snorted and dragged me outside by the blankets around me. "Of course not. Because if we stay together, we'll stay warm, right?"

I felt a little cold pit drop in my stomach when she said that and huddled closer to me to prove her point. Haruhi, do you even realize what being this close to you does to me? Obviously not, I thought, casting an annoyed look down at her. Her eyes were fixed solidly on the ball of yellow warmth that was rising to the east. A grin settled on her face, as she looked up at me excitedly and whispered, "Here it comes!"

We stood out there like that until it had broken over the tips of the surrounding hills and carelessly cast sparkling gems all over the frozen landscape. The clouds had just broken where it came up; snow still piled down around us. It wasn't until she started to stomp her feet that I convinced her to go back inside.

I put a couple more logs on the dying fire while she snuggled back into the chair, and then joined her, wincing as I met the previously-warm-now-cold-as-the-dead cushion.

She was still grinning. "Ne, Kyon?"

"Nani?"

"Thanks."

My mouth flew open as I looked over at her in shock. But she was ignoring me now, drinking down the last dregs of the cold cocoa just for the sweetness, and so I let the moment pass. I guess it's not the first time I've heard those rare words pass her lips, anyway.

We both looked up as heavy footsteps tread down the stairwell, and likewise a silent presence behind. The serious look on Koizumi's face made me half rise. Next to me, Haruhi asked, "What's wrong?"

Koizumi gave a glance over at Yuki, who said nothing, and then said, "Asahina-san's gone missing."

**Author's Notes: **Meh, for whatever reason I haven't been in the mood to write recently. Sorry everything's so crappy! There are better things to come, I promise! Anyway, here are the translations:

Himitsu: secret

Nani: what?

Sou desu ka?: Is that so?


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 10:

"Be careful! Yuki! Yuki!"

Her answer did not come back. Beside me, still clinging to my arm, Asahina-san said softly, "Don't worry. She can take care of herself."

I know that, dammit!

"How about you? Are you alright? Kyon-kun, I was so frightened!" She started to cry softly in the darkness. Lord preserve me from a crying girl, but if it's Asahina-san...all I can really do is search around in my head for the fastest way to stop her crying. But I couldn't. I was helpless. That was frustrating.

"I'm fine, but it's you that's important right now. What happened? How did you end up here last night? Did it have something to do with the Won Ring of Pawah?"

She shook her head vigorously, letting her red hair bounce around in the shallow light of the flashlight. "No...the Ring has passed beyond our sight. There's nothing we can do about it now."

"Well, then, what was it?"

She looked away, bashfully. Ah, how cute you are, Asahina-san, even in a dank cave! How absolutely adorable...more beautiful than the sunrise after a storm...wait, what did you say?

"Sorry, I didn't catch that."

She whispered the reason again, and I stared at her, thunderstruck. Are you kidding me?

"SLEEP WALKING?"

My incredulous outburst rang in the depths of the cave, and I winced as echoes came back to me, again and again...apparently the cave was rather deep. I could only hope I hadn't woken any bears or anything that might be slumbering in the back.

I let out a groan of "boy, that was stupid" as I heard another sound, seeping in through the thick snow outside, of yet another avalanche, pouring down the sides of the mountain and no doubt blocking the entrance with more snow.

Of all the mysteries in the universe, and the Time-Traveler is a sleepwalker? That's her mysterious excuse for disappearing in the middle of the night?

I sighed and face-palmed, turning the flashlight away so she wouldn't see. But now wasn't the time to be selfish. I let my gaze drift over to her frightened face, illumined to outline her every expression. Her eyebrows were drawn together over her huge eyes, and her lower lip was quivering. I decided to withhold my questions.

It occurred to me now that it was almost noon, and as spartan as girls can be about food, vehemently insisting their lack of sustenance until they're ready to pass out, Asahina-san hadn't eaten since yesterday. Simultaneously, my own stomach groaned in protest, reminding me that I hadn't had anything since the hot chocolate, either. I unzipped the by now somewhat damp backpack, pulled out a couple of granola bars, handed one to her, and began to search around for matches. Even if we could only make a small fire out of the dry pine needles and twigs that carpeted the cave, it would still be better than nothing. Provided we didn't smoke ourselves out or asphyxiate ourselves or...oh, damn.

The matches were soaked. Brilliant. All my mental weighings-in of various ways to die by fire suddenly became more tempting than the prospect of freezing here.

Okay, Kyon. Stay calm. Haruhi and the others will be here any moment. It's not like it's that cold in here...no, not at all...Shit! Asahina-san is shivering!

All practicality and logical thoughts vanished when I saw her cute form shaking uncontrollably. Even if the cave wasn't as cold inside as the biting air outside, she was still dressed in nothing more than her pajamas and the thin robe that her unconscious mind had somehow thoughtfully considered to take along. I wonder if she's less clueless in her sleep than...Now's not the time to be thinking about that, Kyon!

But what could I do? The outside of my coat was soaked and seeping into the inside as well. Without the constant movement of active searching warming me, it was starting to bite coldly into my skin and spread the dampness to the sweater I wore underneath, too. It would be no use to try to give it to Asahina-san to wear. I unzipped it and set it aside, aware that the potential discomfort of the coldness of the cave was preferable to being cold _and_ wet.

This still left Asahina-san cold and shivering, and now a bit confused. When, coming to the best conclusion I could under the circumstances, I instinctively reached for her, she backed away shyly.

"Asahina-san, I'm really sorry, but this is the best way to stay warm," I told her, and, after a moment's consideration with a cute frown on her face, she scooted over into my arms. I wrapped them around her and drew her as close as I could.

A vast depth of tingling that had nothing to do with being cold, as has been stated countless times before in similar situations in practically every story that's been written before, reached deeply into my chest and gripped me tightly. For a moment, I think my mind actually went numb, but returned quickly as I dizzily thought, OMG, I'm actually holding Asahina-san! Hehehe...no, Kyon, time to get serious. You are holding her this way because she is cold and the two of you need to use each other's body heat to stay warm and...OMG, she seriously is big-chested...wahahawowie...

"Kyon?"

Her small voice broke into my happily spinning thoughts.

"Mm?"

"Do you believe in heaven?"

Yes, because holding you like this must be Paradise, feeling your skin so close...wait, why the heck are you asking such a thing?

"What if Haruhi-san and the others don't find us? What if we're buried too deep?" Her voice started to quaver, and I felt slight dampness run into my collar. "What if we never get out of here?"

That's ridiculous, because you're definitely alive in the future. Either that, or you have a grown-up ghost wandering the perimeters of various time planes. I didn't say any of that, though.

"It'll be fine. Yuki knows where we are, and she's never failed us yet," I answered reassuringly, I hope, as I cupped my hand around her head and drew it under my chin.

She gulped and nodded. "Yes, you're right, I know you are, but...Kyon, I just can't help feeling...!"

I smiled and patted her back reassuringly. "It'll be okay, shinpai nai." Why am I in the mother-hen role here?

Yes, that's right. We'll definitely be okay. But...oh, I'm so sleepy...

I blinked suddenly as my head started to rock forward, and opened my eyes as alertly as I could. The lack of sleep from last night was starting to kick in, finally. Aside from the rule of "thou shalt not fall asleep when you're cold", I also needed to act like a man and protect the adorable, helpless creature who had finally relaxed in my arms. Yes, I need to...mmbbuhhmm...No! Stay awake!

To distract myself, I said, "Asahina-san, can you tell me how old you were when you first found out about time-traveling?"

No response.

"Ah, I see, it's classified information?"

A very faint, unintelligible mutter. Alarmed, I peeked down at her, moving the flashlight to look at her face. I was relieved to note her butterfly-like eyelashes closed tightly over her nose, her mouth slightly open as she muttered quietly in her sleep. Ah, I see. You must have had a sleepless night too, waking up here in complete darkness, not knowing where you were or anything and terrified to death the entire time. I pulled her deeper into my chest and brushed the side of her cheek gently with the back of my fingertips. So sweet...so gentle and pure...so...

I'm sure there must have been a terrific clatter against the hard floor of the cave as the flashlight fell out of my drooping hand, but I did not hear it. I had sunk into the softest sleep of my life, with Asahina-san's hair as my pillow.

.

"Oi! Oi! Kyon! You pervert, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Shut up. Can't you see I'm trying to get some sleep? Jeesh, Haruhi, just leave me alone for once. And why are you calling me a pervert? I just fell asleep in class again...uh oh...

This isn't class, this soft thing beneath my cheek isn't the open pages of a book and...

I opened my eyes and was instantly assaulted by the proverbial stunning blast of light. "Itai..." I muttered, shaking my head before attempting that again. When my heavy eyelids finally propped themselves open far enough, the first thing I saw was Haruhi's face scowling inches away from mine. The next was the groggy body of Asahina-san beginning to stir in my arms.

"What...happened...Hah?" Her wide eyes filled with panic as she found herself in the position in which we had fallen asleep, and for a moment, I'm sure the temporary amnesia of short-lived sleep must have wrecked havoc in her brain.

Behind Haruhi stood Koizumi and Yuki, each with their respective unreadable expressions, covered in bits of snow from digging us out, although I could see that the hot ball of the July sun was beginning to turn the previous winter wonderland into a muddy swamp. Oh joy. Nothing more invigorating than a tromp back through angle-deep mud.

Haruhi deftly plucked the finally-starting-to-calm-down Asahina-san from my arms, as though I was a kidnapper and she must save the innocent girl from me, which just seems backwards considering the history thereof, and lifted her pointed chin at me defiantly.

"Honestly, Kyon, you're so useless! Here I send you out on a mission to find the missing maiden, and what do you do? You get trapped with her! It's lucky for you that Yuki found Koizumi and me as quickly as she did. Otherwise you might never have gotten free!"

Assuming that the sun never came out and melted away the ice plug at the entrance, you mean. Which it already started to, anyway.

"Seriously, is that even a remotely chivalrous way of rescuing a fair damsel in distress?" Oh, so we're in a fairy tale now, I see. How very realistic of you.

"Ano...Suzumiya-san...Kyon did his best," offered the sweet girl in her over-protective grasp. "He kept me warm the entire time..."

"Oh, yes, with no ulterior motives whatsoever, huh, Kyon?" She sent an accusing look at me which I wasn't quite able to hold. "Betsuni..." I muttered. I would have done it even if it hadn't been so enjoyable, it's not my fault that she's so excessively cute that it had to be fun anyway, dammit!

"Shouldn't we get going?" Koizumi asked smilingly where he stood. "After all, Suzumiya-san, we still haven't taken any time to find ghosts back at the cabin..."

Haruhi shrugged uncaringly. "The sun has come back out, anyway. Maybe we'll have to wait for night but...oh..." she yawned widely, "I'm so sleepy, I didn't sleep a wink last night..."

I feel your pain, really, I do.

"Kyon, I need you to carry me back."

What? I didn't get any sleep last night, either!

"Yeah, but you got some right now, didn't you? So hurry up already, I'm exhausted! Oh, and by the way," she added as I begrudgingly got to my feet, "you'll be paying for our train tickets back."

Nani?

"Because we had a deal, remember. Last one to find Mikuru has to pay a fine."

"Hey, I found her first, with Yuki, so it should be that you and Koizumi have to pay!"

She humphed at me. "No, because you got trapped in here with her. That doesn't count as finding her, unless you actually got her free. Yuki got us and brought us here, where we found you two, asleep, and then you woke up, so you were the last to find her after rescue was available."

How does that even make sense?

"It makes sense because I say so."

Naturally, my logic doesn't even come close to deciphering the mystery that is Haruhi and her illogical way of looking at things. But, if I can't argue, there is one thing I can do to get the best of her.

"Well, you told me to carry you back."

I ducked down, as if going for a judo throw, and caught her stomach to fold over one of my shoulders. Her startled cry echoed in the cave, and, grinning, I pulled her around my neck and held onto her arms and legs across my shoulders as though she was a gazelle from a hunt. Oh, she struggled, I can tell you that. Kicked, scratched, tried to bite, but victory was mine.

After all, even in this world that you wished for, I'm stronger than you in the end. Stepping forward out from the cave, I looked over at Koizumi who, for once, had a genuinely amused look on his face. "Shall we get going? Haruhi, if you struggle too much, I'll lose my balance and we'll go hurtling over the edge of the cliff."

As Yuki and Asahina-san came into formation behind us, Haruhi actually obeyed and furthermore...she giggled.

"You're insane," she said.

It was the second time she'd told me that. I enjoyed it just as much as that other time.

.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. "It's good to be back!"

Haruhi, don't stretch your arms out like that. Seriously, you have no idea how good that looks...not as good as if Asahina-san did, but...

"Kyon, what in the world are you talking about? I swear, you're like a crazy person sometimes. Mikuru, no no NO! Not like that, didn't you hear?"

As I watched Haruhi speed across the music room to snatch the by-now-soundless tambourine from Asahina's adorable hands, I thought, But I have to agree, it is good to be back. Even though it means I'll be forced by certain dominant females of my acquaintance to begin studying immediately for the exams that won't start for a few more months yet. Even though I haven't learned all of the bass parts adequately enough for Miss Haruhi Daihime-sama of Royal Blue Blood, and the cultural festival is approaching at an alarming speed. Oh yes, she wants to play for this one, too. Almost done writing up the music for it, though I have my suspicions she'll be changing things up until five minutes before we go on stage, and yell at me afterward, too. Doubtless she'll conjure some impossible outfits for the girls and expect me and Koizumi to fend for ourselves; doubtless the teachers will have a hay day but be unable to do anything about it because we're already on stage. It is Haruhi, afterall. Nothing would surprise me. I wish.

And me? Well, I have some questions to ask. Because the summer brought more than untimely snow.

It brought feelings...new feelings...unexpected feelings. I suppose it's what you could call "first love", from what I've read of its description. I guess I have all of the symptoms. Tingly feelings in the stomach? Check. Heart racing? Check. Feelings of breathiness and dizziness? Check.

Overwhelming sense of warmth? Wait...I've felt that one before. On a dark night about a month ago, danger and foreboding and iron taste of blood. Silky hair and a cloudy moon...and tears. I am already familiar with it. But that sort of thing...

"Kyon! Oi, pay attention!"

Yes, Daihime-sama. What is your eminent wish? She'd already turned back around and was tapping out the beat with one of her feet, about to begin the new song.

"Ramming speed!" Haruhi announced, raising the pick in her hand as though it were the sword of Excalibur, legs wide-spread in a stance of victory.

"I think you mean 'presto'," I corrected off-handedly, and gave in to the ferocious tempo.

**Author's Notes: **Sorry about the long wait! The rest of the story is COMPLETE and I will continue to release it every other day until it's done. Thanks for your (collective) patience!

Translations:

-shinpai nai: don't worry

-itai: ow

-betsuni: not really

-nani?: what?

-Daihime-sama: a ridiculously high-brow title meaning something like, "Your worshipful highness, my Princess"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 14:

And there it was.

I knew, knew in my heart, that I couldn't keep lying to myself anymore. Haruhi was Haruhi. She was a pill, she was obnoxious and self-centered and cranky, and I liked every single thing about her. There was no substitute. I just wanted her. I wanted her in my arms, in my life, for now, forever.

But there was a problem. She didn't seem too happy to see me right now. Even though I'd sorted everything out in my mind, even though, fighting it all the way, I'd finally said hell to rationality and logic, and given in to the human urges of emotion and passion, it still remained that it took two people to make a relationship, and ours was apparently one short right now.

I stepped forward from where, just seconds before, I had been bending over in agony and ecstasy, and grabbed her shoulders, possibly on the rough side. "We need to talk," I reiterated, my voice lowering and my pulse quickening.

She paled so quickly that I held out my arms lest she faint. But she didn't. Her face turned red as quickly as it had lost color, and she turned on her heel and began stomping down the hall. I could see the faces of left-over students turning apprehensive, and they gave her a wide berth of room. On the other hand, they didn't give me the same benefit, so as I collected my senses and determinedly set off after her, I had to work through the groups that re coalesced in remarkably inconvenient places. Muttering, "Sumimasen, sumimasen" as I shouldered past them, all I could think of was, "She's going, and if I don't speak to her now, I'll lose her forever."

I made it through the worst of the traffic and broke into a trot as I watched her dark hair float around the corner. I didn't know where she was going. I doubt she knew where she was going, either. But we were going there together.

"Haruhi...Haruhi, matte!" I think she could have won the world-championship for speed-walking right then; I couldn't see how I was barely able to keep sight of her while practically running, and she hadn't lifted both feet from the floor yet.

At one point, she must have doubled back, because I stood at the three-way hallway intersection perplexedly, trying to figure out which way she'd gone. Then, somewhere in my brain was the whisper, "I'm over here!" like a taunt, or maybe a plea. I followed the voice and saw her turning yet another corner.

I'd almost caught up to her when the door to my immediate right opened, and Wakayama-san of Asahina's class stepped out with a stern look on his face.

"Kyon, where are you going in such a hurry? I need to talk to you about something."

"Not right now," I panted, attempting to sidestep the teacher, but failing. He gave me a strange look.

"Now listen, I heard that there was an episode over the summer break where Asahina disappeared for a night. Can you explain to me why that is?"

I gritted my teeth. "I'm sorry, but it's important that I go right now. I'll come explain afterward, okay?"

He narrowed his eyes at me with folded arms and asked, suspiciously, "Why?"

Damn honor. Damn appearances, respect, and everything else. Life is more important than tradition. I dashed around the teacher and ignored his protests of, "Kyon! Get back here right now!"

Haruhi...wait for me, please...

I knew where she was without thinking, and sprinted to the now-abandoned music room. As I'd expected, she was sitting at the piano, playing large, loud chords which brought the random name "Rachmaninoff" to mind. When she saw that I entered, she just increased her volume.

I marched over to the piano and stood next to the bench. She ignored me completely and continued playing. Annoyed, I reached over and jerked her hands off of the keyboard, closing the key cover as I did so.

"Haruhi," I said, authoritatively, "Just listen."

Her eyes spake trepidation and anticipation at me, and then, abruptly, she shook off my hands which still held hers captive, and got up from the bench, walking around the opposite side of the piano. Her figure cast a long, fast-moving shadow across the dark-brown wood of the grand from the golden window behind, and I attempted to cut her off before she could get all the way around. I didn't see the amplifier lying innocently on the floor and tripped over it grandly, face-planting on the floor. By the time I'd picked myself up, she'd made good her exit and whisked out the door. I followed.

And it continued like that. I don't know how she managed to walk so fast, but, as the hallways began to empty as a result of the end of club-activities, I finally started to catch up to her.

At a certain point, I decided that the situation had become ridiculous. Not only were we garnering strange looks from the few students and teachers who were left in the halls, but I knew that there was one way to stop her and I didn't want to do it. But I gave in eventually.

Reaching ahead, I caught her wrist in mine and dragged her into a nearby clubroom, ignoring her protests the entire way, slammed the door shut, and pinned her against the wall, the hand that was grasping her wrist crushed against the wall next to her ear, the other firmly planted where her shoulder met her chest to keep her there.

It wasn't the most uncompromising situation, I'll admit. To all intents and purposes, it appeared that I had abducted the poor, innocent girl, and was about to do who-knows-what to her. It didn't help that her eyes were watering from the fact that I was holding her wrist too hard. I released it gently, making a mental note, yet again, that she was more fragile than she looked.

"Haruhi," I began, for-who-knows-what time, "Onegaishimasu. Please, please, please, just listen to me."

She hissed at me from against the wall, and I felt the heat of her seething anger creeping onto my cheeks, or maybe I was just blushing from the close contact. "Why should I, huh? After what you just did with Mikuru-chan, why should I even bother listening to you? What are you, some kind of playboy who just has his way with whomever he wants?"

I cut off her protests suddenly by leaning in and pressing my lips to the corner of her mouth. She stopped talking, maybe even stopped breathing, and I could feel her expression softening at the contact. I wanted desperately to move my mouth over and press it against hers, to amend my mistake from earlier and never let go.

But that would completely negate the purpose, so I pulled back up and looked at her wide eyes. "That's all."

She blinked in astonishment, realizing her mistake. "That's all?" Then the other side hit. "That's ALL? What, you think something like that is so asexual, huh? Do you have any idea what that does to a girl? Even if it's not a real kiss, it's like a promise. Why can't guys get that?"

"Why can't girls figure out that half the time guys push them away, it's because they can't take it anymore?" I bellowed back, and she winced as some of the fly-away spittle hit her on the cheek. I sighed and fiddled around in my pocket, pulling out my handkerchief and gently wiping it away. She closed her eyes at the touch. But I continued.

"Listen, you've got to help me out, Haruhi. Right now, all I can think about is your mouth, and your body, and how you feel pressed up against me." To demonstrate, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her tight to me. Even though I couldn't see her expression, I could hear her ragged breathing against my chest. I myself couldn't help trembling. "Please, just help me out a little. If I don't touch you, that doesn't mean that I don't want to touch you. It's that once I start, I can't stop. I have to have you right then, right there, and damn the consequences. It sucks, it really does, and I'm sorry. But please try to understand. I need you to understand."

Then I heard snickering behind me and closed my eyes. Idiot. I can't believe it.

I let go of her and turned around. Six pairs of amused eyes had been watching our antics the entire time. Sure enough, we had ended up in the Student Council meeting room, and they were holding an extra-long meeting today.

The president cleared his throat, the corners of his mouth twitching, and announced to the rest of the council, "Well, I think that wraps it up for today. Please thank our guests for demonstrating the importance of enforcing the separate-rooms policy for the upcoming second-year class trip." They all began to applaud.

Haruhi looked a peculiar shade of green.

I reached up and smacked my forehead with one hand, taking the opportunity to massage the bridge of my nose while I was at it. I was too busy being embarrassed to note that the thoroughly-humiliated Haruhi had slipped out of the room.

Not again...

I gave chase yet once more. She was heading back to the Literature Club room, angry stomps echoing in the by-now-deserted hallway. I picked up my pace. She broke out into a full run.

I don't know why, but right at that moment, my heart felt like it was going to burst from the pain. The pain of the confession. The pain of her turning her back on me, again. The pain of being separated from her physically. I think that one trumped all the rest.

She reached the room before I caught up to her, and seized her backpack from where she had left it on the table. I blocked the open door with my body, gasping for breath, and refused to move. I didn't want to do what I'd done to her earlier again, but at the same time, I couldn't let her leave without her reply. I just couldn't.

Her eyes were flashing like a brush-fire under a sunset as she stood there, seething, and then abruptly she turned and walked toward the window. I panicked, thinking she actually meant to jump out from the third story floor rather than face me, and I scooted over there as fast as possible to prevent such a thing happening. Of course, it was all a setup; she sidestepped me easily and sprinted for the door.

And here, I will admit, I was absolutely desperate, so I flung myself into midair and actually tackled her to the floor. She fell on her stomach and twisted around under me so that she was able to face me, somehow having the upper hand even while lying on the floor, and began beating on my chest with her fists. I let her. It was more important to get out what I had to say.

"Haruhi," I pleaded, "Go out with me." Shocked, she stopped hitting me, and I continued. "Just once. I don't care if you get tired of me and dump me the next day. Look, I know I'm just a normal, boring guy. I don't have any special powers or anything. I'm not even an esper." I conveniently left off the part where there actually was an attractive guy of her acquaintance who was an esper. "But give me a chance, just once, to show you how to have fun, not like other people, but the way you want to have fun."

I closed my eyes and waited for Armageddon. As in, "I'm armageddon outta here."

To my surprise, all she said was, "Yes."

I couldn't believe my ears as I opened my eyes and stared down at her. "Really?" I asked. Without waiting for a reply, I pushed myself up from the floor and reached down to pull her back up, too.

She flipped her hair as she stood, and folded her arms, scowling. "But I'll probably break up with you after the first date." She swung her backpack over her shoulders and began walking at a brisk pace back down the hallway.

I fell into step with her, not ready to stop speaking with her yet. "I'll just ask you out again, you know. What will you say then?"

"I'll say yes again," she said, not looking at me, though a blush was creeping over her delicate cheekbones.

I let myself smile. Suddenly, she paused, so that I had to take a couple more steps before turning around to face her.

She was glaring very fixedly at a crack at the floor, but she spoke lowly. "Ne, Kyon..."

I took a step forward and pulled her chin up with my hand so that her eyes flickered up to meet mine. She blushed deeper. "Yes?" I asked gently.

She hesitated. "Thank you for not asking me out over the phone."

Of course I hadn't.

In the end, it was Haruhi's story.

**Author's Notes: **The end! Well, sort of. This is the last chapter chronologically. If it seems a little weird, it's because of the chapters that come before it, still to come. I have to admit, I had my work cut out for me, writing it this way (sigh). But it was challenging, and that's fun =)

The "armageddon outta here" joke is not mine. The honor belongs to Eddie Izzard, bless his cross-dressing, dirty-mouthed soul.

Translations:

Sumimasen: excuse me

Matte: wait

Onegaishimasu: I beg you


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 4:

Yet another Sunday with the SOS Brigade. I was last to arrive. Again. Which meant that I picked up the bill. Again. My wallet was protesting as I handed several bills to the smiling waitress, and caught the triumphant gleam of Haruhi's expression. It seemed that everytime I was late, she punished me more severely by purchasing larger, more expensive meals. I had the feeling this wouldn't be the last time, either.

She cleared her throat and drummed on the table for our attention. Nagato looked up placidly from her book. Koizumi and Asahina turned from where they had been in a serious discussion.

"It's time to split up," she announced, "but I'm not changing partners this time. Whoever you get, you're stuck with for the rest of the afternoon." She sent a smirk in my direction. I didn't like to think about what it meant. She held up in her hand the straws, hiding the colored ends in her fist. "Yuki, you first."

What Haruhi didn't know was that this time, Koizumi had cheated. If Asahina-san hadn't warned me beforehand, I wouldn't have known, either, but the plan was for me to distract Haruhi while the three of them went searching for the Won Ring of Pawah. It would be absolutely disastrous if she got her hands on it, after all, even accidentally.

"Unmarked," Asahina-san chirped cheerfully. Nagato pulled, and then held up the unmarked stick wordlessly. Haruhi then held out her fist to me. If I didn't know better, I could've sworn she was chanting under her breath, "Marked, marked, marked..."

I pulled, as a minute signal from Koizumi warned me beforehand which to take, and announced, "Marked."

Koizumi pulled and said, "Unmarked."

Haruhi's mouth fell slightly open as she opened her fist to reveal the final marked straw. This had never happened before, if you don't count the "date" we had in which the other three conveniently didn't show up. "Well, then," she said, and I didn't know if she was pleased or furious.

Koizumi laughed a little. "Orders, captain?" he asked, smiling.

She seemed pulled out of her own little world for a bit as she said, "You know what to do." And left it at that.

.

"Ne, Kyon, look over there! Doesn't that seem suspicious?"

Half-hearted glance. "Sure, Haruhi."

Glare from out of the corner of the eye. "You're not even looking."

Sigh. "Look, Haruhi, just because two kids dropped their ice cream at exactly the same moment doesn't mean that it's a signal from aliens that they're going to land their space craft there tonight."

"Of course not. That would be too obvious. They'd pick the top of that building over there."

It was about now that I realized exactly how ineffective Haruhi's method of "looking for mysteries" was.

It consisted mostly of snooping around corners, spying on people, and asking random people if they'd seen anything strange. Let me give you a brief catalog of the kinds of answers we received:

"Well, yeah I've seen some strange things. Just last night, I was watching TV, and there was this show about how male seahorses give birth..."

"What's that, honey? Oh, yes, strange happenings. Well, the other day me and my friend Kikyou were sitting out on the back porch, and suddenly, out of the blue, this skater boy came rushing down the street, young kids these days, tch, and you wouldn't believe his hair..."

"Hm...let me think...Right! Last week the price of eggs went up fifty yen, just like that! Seriously, isn't that weird?"

"I don't know about strange happenings, but the way my secretary is acting recently is certainly starting to make me wonder, you know?"

After a long half hour of this, I'd had enough.

I sighed. "Geez, Haruhi, don't you think you're approaching this in a really, really, inefficient way?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, going around like this, prowling about or asking everyone individually, 'Have you recently witnessed any strange occurrences?' is not only going to get us a lot of garden-variety answers, it's also a load of wasted time. Why can't you just hang out with friends and enjoy your Sundays peacefully for a change?"

I immediately regretted tacking on the last sentence when I saw Haruhi's eyebrows draw together darkly, and the inevitable scowl of an impending storm gather.

"What, you're telling me this is all a waste of time, huh?" she snapped. "That you'd rather be doing something else?"

"Not quite," I said hastily.

"Well, then, what?"

In my reckless state of mind which everyone must acquire at some time or another being around an about-to-spurt-forth-volcanic-ash-everywhere Haruhi, I did something that I could never, ever, in a thousand years have imagined myself doing.

I glanced around me for the best spot, and then, dragging her along by the hand, climbed the steps of a tall fountain in the middle of the square and began shouting gleefully at the top of my lungs.

"Sumimasen, minna-san, I have an announcement to make," I began, while Haruhi blushed violently and began tugging away to try to escape, which I didn't let her do. "If anyone here is an alien, a time-traveler, or an esper, this young lady here", I held up our enjoined hands, while she tried to pull away again, whining, "Kyon...", "...would like to meet you. 'That is all!'" I finished, quoting the lady next to me with a grin, and stepped down from the fountain with a wink at the by-now-beetroot red Haruhi.

The people on the streets, which had paused from amazement during my speech, gave a little collective laugh and glanced around, like they suspected that they were on the scene of a movie-filming, or Candid Camera, and continued their shopping or whatever.

I shrugged at Haruhi. "Well, nothing here. Guess we'll have to move on to the next corner and do it all over again." I began walking again, still holding firmly onto her hand. She ground her feet into the pavement and refused to move, and looking back, I saw that her eyes were shining. It occurred to me suddenly that she was red as much from holding in her laughter as from embarrassment.

"You. Are. Insane!" she said, finally, when she thought she could control the buttoned-up giggles.

I smiled at her. "So?"

She paused for a second. "I like it when you're crazy," she admitted, the fading color on her cheeks springing to life again.

And I blushed, too.

.

The afternoon passed quietly, and for once in her life, Haruhi was actually sparkling. She was laughing, smiling, talking, and guess what? I was having fun with her. I even completely forgot that Koizumi, Nagato and Asahina-san were out there somewhere, bravely searching for the ever-elusive Ring of Pawah.

What was it about her that made her so enjoyable to be around right now, anyway? Normally, I'd try to avoid her as much as possible, but today was different. She was relaxed, talking to me as if I was a person and not a subject of the Holy Realm of Suzumiya, and, by golly, it was like going out with a normal girl for once.

Afternoon lengthened into early evening, the sun drawing out all the hills, and still she made no sign of wanting to rejoin the others for a "follow up". Vaguely, I wondered if she'd completely forgotten the point of meeting today in the first place, or maybe even why she and I were out all alone in this park, anyway.

Call me irresponsible, but right now, it seemed like she wanted to be in this exact park, with the kids laughing and running around on the playground, on this exact bench, with me. When a late ice-cream stand rang its way by us, I bought fudgsicles for both of us, which, to me at least, were a little too sweet, and when a very small drip landed on her blouse, I couldn't help desperately wanting to wipe it off. But I didn't tell her about it yet.

At a certain point, she noticed where my eyes kept wandering and shot me a look that tinged on pleased masked by fury. "Oi, Kyon, up here!" she said commandingly, and I blushed as I became aware of her implications.

"Sorry, it's just...ummm..."

"What?"

I pointed, looking away as I did so. "You just have...a stain..."

She gave a wordless exclamation as she jumped up, rubbing at it determinedly with the napkin left over from the ice-cream. "Warui! This is one of my favorites, too! Augh...it looks so noticeable, doesn't it?"

I laughed a little as I stood up and put a heavy hand on her shoulder to force her to sit back down. "It doesn't look that bad," I told her, unconsciously slipping my arm around the back of the bench where she sat, lest she make an escape attempt.

"Really?" she asked worriedly, ceasing her (rather enjoyable) rubbing at the spot.

"Really," I assured her, smiling a little to myself. Who knew that Haruhi Suzumiya could get so worried about such an insignificant thing like a stain on her shirt?

"Thanks," she replied shyly (shyly?) and scooted ever so slightly closer to me on the bench.

That moment ushered in a silence that was neither awkward nor uncomfortable, just the two of us ignoring the spinning world around us, and looking at each other in comfortable quietness.

Children were called away by their parents; the ice-cream guy took his music elsewhere; the sun also began to say goodnight. Aside from a couple of random comments here and there, we were oblivious to the passing of time and the fading of light, until the street lights began to flicker on, and at last we both stood, laughing and stretching a little, and began to walk down the emptying streets.

"I suppose the others already went home," I commented, a little reluctant to bring them into this private moment that belonged to just us two, but deeming it necessary.

She gave a start of surprise as she remembered. "Yeah...I guess so," she answered quietly, and looked up at me. "Would you...walk me home?" she asked in a small voice.

"Okay."

From this angle of town, it was slightly out of my way, but I didn't care. I wanted to preserve this moment with her. It was like a little drop of honey; it sweetened every experience I'd had with her.

And then the banana peel showed up.

Now, this must seem so extraordinarily cartoon-ish that you might not believe me. After all, have you ever, in your entire life, actually seen someone, with your own eyes, slip on a banana peel? It's called propaganda. But it was there tonight, and in the fading light, I didn't see it.

I didn't go heels over head, like they show in comics; I didn't even go up in the air, but I will admit that, in order to catch myself from falling, I grabbed onto the closest thing in the vicinity and held on for dear life.

That "closest thing" just so happened to be Haruhi.

To make matters worse, she'd just turned to say something else, and so it was that I crashed into her magnificently, and we stumbled about blindly, trying not to fall over.

My mouth collided with hers painfully as I fell. I swear, that's not the sort of thing that you'd expect in real life. Exactly how often do you get an "accidental kiss" really, huh? But then again, exactly how often do you meet aliens, time-travelers, espers, giraffe-tall praying mantises, and rings that allow you to hear other people's thoughts?

My point exactly.

But...I know these lips; I kissed them, once upon a dream.

She froze under me, under my lips, under the weight of my body on hers, and I immediately pushed myself away, face red with embarrassment. "Go...gomen nasai!" I shouted, perhaps too loudly, and shot backwards.

My mind was whirling, as you can imagine. Numbly, as I fled, I was aware of her calling, "Kyon! Kyon!" back at me.

It was a stupid thing to do, I know it. But I am a guy, after all. Give me a break.

**Author's Notes: **Yay, more Eddie Izzard! (The banana thing). I have the feeling this chapter ended up a lot more static than I intended, but I'm a little clueless as how to fix it. Oh, well. 

Translations:

Sumimasen, minna-san: Excuse me, everyone

Gomen nasai: I'm really sorry!

The Japanese apologize a lot, from what little I know. I use these a LOT, even with my English friends, hehe. That and "shitsureishimasu", which literally means something along the lines of "I'm going to make a terrible nuisance of myself, so please excuse me before hand."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 13:

She was really, really angry.

No, seriously. I thought I'd seen her mad before. That was nothing compared to this. I could swear I could practically feel the enclosed space creeping up on us. In my mind's eye, I could see Koizumi casting an accusing glare at me: "Again? Kyon, what did you do this time?"

I kissed her and I bolted. That's what I did.

But school was in session, and even if I wasn't in class, I wouldn't even be able to do anything about the enclosed space. To my surprise, after a while the gloomy darkness that loomed like blackmail began to dissipate and fade until nothing was left.

She hadn't even shown up for homeroom; in fact, it wasn't until third period that she finally stomped in, interrupting the entire class, slumped into her seat behind me, and angrily looked out the window. I'm not sure why she even bothered to show up. I had the feeling that she was carrying around an "I'll show you!" attitude, though.

Sneaking a glance back around at her, I did notice that her eyes were a little red, and I felt a bit of guilt.

Shit. I'm sorry, Haruhi.

I would have said that, too, but here the next problem arose: Haruhi, girl-like, absolutely refused to listen to my apologies. Naturally, she left during lunch, as always, but I had the feeling that she wasn't patrolling as usual. She returned well after class had already begun, and pointedly ignored all eye contact.

Feeling like a junior high girl, I fished out a bit of paper and scrawled, "Please talk to me" on it, and then slipped it over on to her desk.

She didn't even open it; she merely put it in her mouth and swallowed. Ew, Haruhi. You don't know where that's been! I doubt she would've even cared. It was a dare, a challenge, a demonstration of her unmovable stubbornness, and the funny thing was, it wasn't even a far cry from what other girls were like. Nooo...the irony was, this was normal girl behavior.

I sighed and let her be.

Classes ended. She left even before the teacher had finished issuing homework.

Clubs started. I dutifully showed up to a clubroom void of any soul but Asahina-san, sweetly brewing green tea in an adorable maid outfit. At her smile, I felt the familiar happiness rise up in my chest. Cute, gentle Asahina-san, natural anti-depressant and aphrodisiac. At least there was one beautiful girl in this world that I never had problems with.

"Ah, Kyon-kun! Genki desu ka?"

I sank down into a seat by the table and let my head droop between my arms, groaning. It must have seemed terribly rude. But, sweet Asahina-san, knowing instinctively my male needs of pampering, took a seat next to me quietly and sat there for a minute without saying anything.

After a minute, she asked, "Is it Suzumiya-san?"

I let out an oblique grunt.

"Ah, I see." More silence. Then, "Is there anything I can do?"

You could explain to me exactly why the last girl I should be with is the one I want to be with.

She laid a small hand on my arm, and I looked up to meet her gaze. There were the familiar tingles but...why did they seem so shallow now?

She gave a little surprised gasp and took her hand away as the door opened with a bang, and Haruhi entered, scowling at everything but me. She didn't even give me that much. She stomped over to her "commander" chair and sat down, starting up the computer and beginning to type loudly.

I watched her there, wondering if she was actually typing anything but gibberish, seeing as the computer's "start" screen hadn't even had time to load up yet, and then I suddenly stood determinedly. Damn the consequences. Haruhi, you have to listen to me.

I walked over and stood there. She continued to ignore me, so I unplugged the mouse and took it away from her. She gave a little cry and looked up at me with a "I will murder you in cold blood and guts" expression in her eyes.

Then she decided it wasn't even worth her time to get the mouse back from me, and stood.

She stomped over to the tea, still on the counter where the still-seated Asahina-san had left it, and began to slurp from a cup loudly. When I walked over, she turned on her heel and marched back over to the computer. I took my seat next to Asahina-san again. Square one.

She was really starting to piss me off.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that she was completely refusing to listen to everything I had to say. But I was surprised, and I was also annoyed. Why couldn't she just hear me out? Sometimes a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do, and even if it's for the good of the girl, she will always, without fail, assume that he's doing it to spite her or whatever and stubbornly refuse to let him clear his name.

I gritted my teeth and frowned as Koizumi entered, smiling as usual and rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry I'm late...I had a bit of an emergency...Ano...is something going on here that I should know about?"

He looked from me over to Haruhi. I can only imagine that my expression must have matched hers at this point: eyebrows drawn so closely together that they almost met, deep lines around the corners of the mouth, folded arms. Although folding my arms across my chest didn't have quite the same effect that Haruhi folding hers did.

I can't believe I'm thinking about stuff like this right now.

Koizumi took a worried look outside. I didn't even bother to follow his gaze to what was undoubtably becoming yet another closed space. Instead, I purposely stared at Haruhi until she met my eye, and then I gave into the dark side altogether.

I leaned toward Asahina-san's face, ignoring the wide-eyed look, and purposely kissed her lingeringly at the corner of her mouth. From Haruhi's angle, I knew it looked like a full-on kiss.

Exactly why I didn't just go full out and kiss Asahina-san was still a mystery to me. After all, I would like nothing less than to kiss her, right? She was so enjoyable and...why was it that I wasn't happier about this right now?

I drew back, not looking her in the face, and sat stunned as I tried to sort out what had just happened in my head. Why...why was it so different? Why was there no inherent urge to go further, after all?

I was so busy ruminating that I didn't notice that Haruhi had gotten up until she was standing in front of me, scowling deeply.

She raised her hand.

CHAK.

There was a shocked silence in the room, though I must admit my head was full of bees and bells, and then Haruhi herded a sputtering Asahina-san and bemused Koizumi out through the door, leaving me alone.

Hello, empty clubroom.

Even through the rather excruciating pain of Haruhi's flat palm across my cheek, I couldn't help but keep coming back to the way I'd felt when I'd kissed Asahina-san. Sure, it was a relatively innocent kiss, but I couldn't help comparing it back and forth between the moment I'd had with Haruhi earlier. Kissing Asahina-san was—don't get me wrong, it was amazing, but—it was just sweet, and fun. There wasn't any extant desire. There wasn't any overwhelming impulse to go further.

I kept trying to wrap my brain around that. Why was it so different? Maybe because of where I'd kissed her, not on the mouth but next to it? That should have some effect, right? After all, the climax of a movie doesn't happen at the first "kiss on the forehead" scene, but at the first "makeout like a pair of starving walruses" scene.

I was still wracking my mind when there was the almost silent opening and shutting of the door, and Yuki entered, face buried in yet another book. If she keeps this up, pretty soon there won't be any need to go to the library anymore; I'll just bring my questions to her.

And right now, I have a question. But I won't be using words to ask it.

I met her as she was walking across the clubroom and gently took the book from her. She did not resist, only looked up at me with a hint of expectation. I put the book down on the table and cupped the side of her face with my hand, the other reaching down to hold hers.

"Yuki," I said, my voice a little lower than usual, "I'm really sorry about this."

The I bent my head and kissed her on the mouth.

I felt her stiffen ever so slightly, and then she began to work her lips against mine. Even with my limited experience, I knew she was a great kisser; probably she'd been programmed for such emergencies, though that wasn't something I wanted to think about right now. I kissed back, again and again, but it didn't take me long to realize that the normal breathlessness I had from being this close to her was fading away, until I was left with nothing but the empty feeling of skin on skin.

I pulled back, regretful and slightly ashamed, and let go of her hand, not even able to look her in the eye. "I'm sorry," I mumbled again, half expecting her to kick me across the room like that other time with Asakura.

To my surprise, she said only, "It's okay."

My eyes flew up to meet hers. "But...Yuki...I didn't actually mean..."

There it was again. The rare working of the lips that curled into the slightest of smiles. "I know," she said softly. "You did that to compare the sensation of contact with me to Haruhi Suzumiya, didn't you?" I nodded sheepishly, not bothering to ask how she knew.

"Well, now you have your answer." Without another word, she reached around me for her book and walked back to take her usual seat.

Still standing there, slightly stunned, but feeling better, I asked, "Yuki...as a humanoid interface or whatever...did you enjoy that?"

All she said was, simply, "Yes."

I paused for a minute, then said, "I'm glad," feeling a little stupid. She merely turned the page. I reached for the door, the thought of Haruhi suddenly forming enormous butterflies in my stomach. I had to go find her, immediately.

But before I closed the door, I looked back at the blue haired girl reading silently, emotivelessly, and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replied.

.

Of course Haruhi was nowhere to be found.

Not in the music room; not in any of the classrooms; maybe in the girls' restrooms, but I wasn't about to check there. Even I know that's sacred territory, the land of dark velvet corners and scented incense seances, into which girls retreat with as many friends as they can gather and hold long meetings from the seclusion of confessional-like cells. Why in the world would anyone talk in a bathroom, anyway? Isn't that like, ew? You do your business, you exit. You don't conduct business, let alone discuss the delicate nature of whatever-mysterious-subjects girls have on their minds and can only unburden over a pot of water or pillows and icecream. Well, that was one thing about Haruhi, anyway. She wasn't the type to do that. Doubtless she marched in, took care of things, marched out. So she wouldn't linger in such a place.

Had she gone home? I doubted it. She'd left her stuff in the Literature Club room, after all. But maybe she had anyway.

Clubs were full in session now; even when I peeked in the music room, I found that the original members had taken over and were cheerfully doing what they did best in there. I could've sworn that one of them even brought ice cream to celebrate with.

I didn't know quite where to go. I re-checked all of the classrooms and clubrooms, to my embarrassment when the members looked up at me and asked me what I wanted. (Ano...betsuni...)

I went outside and checked the hill, that blasted hill. It would've been the most beautiful hill in the world if only she'd been stomping down it like usual. But she wasn't there, either.

I wondered where Asahina-san and Koizumi had got to. I wondered what Yuki was thinking, alone in the classroom.

I reentered the building, listlessly. Maybe she'd gone home after all. That would mean the end, I was sure of it. No more Haruhi in my life, no more Haruhi who wanted me in her life. Last chance, and then, like the stem remains of a blown dandelion, nani mo nai.

Life without Haruhi stretched out in front of me like a great sheet, wagging at me. It was so blank. There was no color, no texture, nor even stains. What if that was all I had left before me? I grimaced a little.

Why does this bother me so much, anyway? Less than a year ago I would've rejoiced with balloons and cake if Haruhi had finally tired of me. The Halleluia Chorus would have been blazing fortississimo in my head.

But it was different now. Because at this point, there were no other "hypotheses". There was no question in my mind.

Did I really...? How had I actually come to...?

I covered my mouth in shock as the pure revelation hit me full force. I leaned over and actually started gagging, whether because it made me feel nauseated or exhilarated beyond comprehension, I really couldn't tell.

"What are you doing?"

I froze, still doubled over. That voice—when did it start making me feel so jittery? Well, always, I guess; but now, I'm not nervous like before—well, no, I am nervous, but not like before—damn it, Haruhi, stop messing with my mind!

I stood upright with as much dignity as I could muster up, and looked her straight in the eye.

"Haruhi," I began, "we need to talk."

**Author's Notes: **This chapter will make significantly more sense after next chapter, I promise. After all, next chapter is the all important "Next episode: Episode 12!" "No, wrong! Next episode: Episode 12! Hey, you got it right..." I always thought that was a brilliant move.

Translations:

Genki desu ka?: Are you doing well?

Ano...betsuni: Um...nothing really...

Nani mo nai: (something like) everything is not


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

How am I supposed to choose "based on love"? Hell, who knows what "love" really is? My language doesn't even have a solid word for it. I imagine it's just as screwed up in French, or Russian, or English.

I hadn't slept that night. Too many thoughts were whirling around in the never-ending flush that was my brain. (Yes, I did just refer to my brain as a toilet). I'd just lain there, listening to the cicadas outside and considering all that had happened that day: my various interactions with Asahina-san, Yuki, and finally, Haruhi.

What was "love"? I've heard that relationships fail if you just base them off of feelings, because after the emotions become commonplace, there's nothing else to replace them. On the otherhand, I've heard that a relationship in which best friends get married sucks. Sure, you spend all of your time laughing and talking and enjoying the other's presence, but really, exactly what do you do for your physical needs, if you're not really attracted to that person to begin with?

Argh...the headaches begin again...

As I finally got out of bed at five a.m., stealthily seeking the bathroom and trying not to wake any of the rest of my family, I found myself wondering, Well, where does that put Haruhi?

Item 1: Being around her does not give me nearly the same physical reaction that being around Asahina-san does.

Item 2: We are not good friends, like Yuki and I are (to a very strange, abstract extent which I don't really understand myself).

Then what does that leave me with? The assumption that male protagonist + female protagonist = the necessary romantic conclusion of the story? Although, in the tale that is my life, she's more of an antagonist, really. When Asahina-san said "Snow White" and Yuki typed "Sleeping Beauty", I couldn't really place Haruhi as the princess in distress at all. More like the evil witch.

But there was an evening, almost three months ago now, where she was very fragile, like a wounded dragonfly, so transparent that it almost made me cry. A moment; why are all enjoyable experiences with Haruhi just moments; why can't they be lifetimes?

However, there is not doubt of this: I want to be with her. But it's too complicated to explain.

I sighed as I opened the mirrored door to the medicine cabinet and fumbled for the aspirin bottle, again sending around clandestine looks to make sure that my mother wasn't sneaking up on me. I opened the child-proof lid and shook the opening toward my hand.

Of course, nothing fell out into my palm. I groaned a little.

.

For the first time since I started high school, I was arriving not only on time, but half an hour early. Fancy that. Normally, of course, I'd sleep in as long as possible, since the ten minutes before you are absolutely late are the best sleep you ever get. But I hadn't even slept, and I didn't feel like hanging around the house until school started, either.

So I set my face toward the early grey of the morning and trudged up that hill, like Joan of Arc led to the stake. Why I'm using a female heroine as an analogy for myself, I can't really say. I wondered, briefly, if Haruhi was a lesbian, would I be female?

I shuddered, and it had nothing to do with the chilly morning air. Bad thought. Must delete from memory bank immediately. Aaaaand...dammit, it's already stuck in there! Yay, one of those thoughts that you can try to ignore for now, but it'll come back at the most inopportune time and chomp you in the butt.

I half-expected the janitors or whoever bothered to show up this early to throw me out, but surprisingly, not only was I able to get in easily, I met no one in the halls. Usually these halls took on an amber glow during the day, sun beams glancing off of cheerful oak hallways, but now they were a drab greyish-purple, not like Yuki's hair, but a quieter, more pensive hue. There are moments when muted color is more beautiful. This was one of them.

I let the thoughts from last night seep out of my head as I wandered up and down, listening to the the dull thud of my footsteps in empty hallways. It is interesting how foreign a familiar place can be when it's empty. I felt vaguely like humming. I let my voice carry through the silence.

And then I turned the corner and heard other music.

It didn't take me long to figure out who was playing, and it came to me with a shock that this was why I'd come so early, this was why there was no one else here yet. She had wanted it.

I almost panicked at that, but instead I let my feet wander toward the music room, toward the sounds of the piano. Was Haruhi just hatched out musical? The notes were perfectly even, without the jerkiness of dynamics and heavy weight of the thumb of a new musician. I didn't know a lot, but I knew enough to be aware of that. Even from the first time I'd seen "bunny girl" on stage, one thing was clear: There were some things Haruhi wasn't terribly good at. There were a lot of things she was naturally good at. But there were a few things that she was terrific at, and this was one of them.

The trickling of the notes got louder and louder, and then burst into full sound as I opened the door to the rehearsal room, softly, softly. My caution was not in vain; she hadn't yet noticed me. I peeped around the corner and observed her against the golden rays of the finally-rising sun, framed in the creamy glow that is only available at that time of day, completely absorbed in her music.

When had she deemed her hair long enough for a ponytail? The sight of the brown, tied back mass did something to me...inside. It tied my intestines in knots and made my face grow warm.

Because I knew that she wasn't doing it just for herself.

After a minute of playing, she stopped abruptly and her right hand automatically fumbled for a pencil on the music rack, and, as her left hand continued playing the melody she was fixated on, her right began feverishly scratching notes on the manuscript paper in front of her. Don't ask me how or when she learned to write music. I've learned to stop asking questions.

I shifted after a moment, and my knee gave a loud "pop". I winced as she looked up, startedly, and then let her face break out into a smile.

"Kyon...ohayo. What are you doing here so early?"

"I should ask you the same question." I walked over next to the piano and leaned against the side.

She shrugged. "I just couldn't sleep last night, to be honest. I kept having all these melodies running through my head! But I can't write from my head yet, so I came over here for the keyboard. Did you hear any of it?"

I nodded.

"What did you think?"

"It was beautiful."

Her eyes shone up at me, and she scooted over on the bench, patting the space she'd left for me. "Want to hear more?"

I hesitated, and then sat down next to her. She didn't seem awkward at all, but I felt distinctly out of place. She sat up a little straighter, considering, flipping through the pages scattered in front of her (some were even on the floor), and then placed her hands on the keyboard, alert but relaxed, and began to play.

I wanted to lean back and close my eyes to concentrate on the notes that now floated out from the soundboard and strings, but at the same time I wanted to watch her. I can't tell you why. Yes, she was good looking. Yes, she was occasionally fun to be around. But that...how could that merit what I was feeling now? It didn't make sense.

But the world doesn't make sense. The world is a strange place, and logic doesn't work at all. Even without Haruhi Suzumiya, it wouldn't make sense. There is no need for a "god", or a "hiccup in time" or an "evolutionary abnormality". There are people, and that is enough, because people are not completely rational, no matter what science says.

She ended, eyes sparkling, and looked at me excitedly. "Well, what did you think? At first I considered this arpeggio might be a little too...you know...but with the block chords up top, in that funky pentatonical or whatever it's called stuff, it seems to work, right? What do you think?"

And there it was again. She was looking at me, asking for my opinion, waiting for my opinion, wanting to know what I thought!

And again I didn't have any answer with words, so I reached out suddenly and pulled her into my arms, practically into my lap.

I felt her entire body stiffen in shock. Probably, even if she'd wished for it, she hadn't expected it to happen. I heard her breathing stop, and then begin again in hurried gasps. I could smell the shampoo she'd used that morning, and the perfume she'd applied to cover up the natural smell of Haruhi. It smelled like wild plums.

Then, slowly, steadily, she slipped her arms up my chest and locked her hands around my neck.

Holding her like that, I found myself closing my eyes. I wanted to stop my ears, too; in fact, I wanted to close off all of my senses but touch, so that I could concentrate all feeling to where her chest was pressed up against my lower rib cage, where the silk of her hair pillowed the side of my jaw like a violin, where her little hands clasped one another against the skin on the back of my neck. This sort of contact—should it be allowed? These emotions—are they illegal? Because with all the unworldly experiences I've had this past year—meeting aliens and time-travelers, seeing IOUS (Insects Of Unusual Size) in a desert of yellow sand, watching espers fight off a blue conscience-induced monster in a concentrated gap of space data—all that pales in comparison to the unearthly heaven of touching her like this.

And then I remembered there was another sense I wanted to experience.

I pulled my face away from her, slightly, and slid one of my hands up from her waist, tracing a flat-palmed ascent along her back, up past her shoulderblades and neck to her chin, and pulled her face up to look at me. Her eyes shone up at me with excitement and anticipation; I guess Haruhi never expected that such a "normal" activity could be so exhilarating, but being alerted to the sensation, she was drinking in every minute. With that in mind, I bent my head, not pausing for consent, and captured her lips with mine.

Her taste was...how shall I describe it? Slightly salty, but also sweet, like umami sauce. I could taste the coffee she'd had that morning. I closed my eyes even tighter as I maneuvered her chin purposefully to the side, allowing for more depth where the creases of our lips met. A little belatedly, her lips scooped up against mine, then we parted, and, like a choreographed dance, clasped against the other's again in soft warmth. I was giddy. She made me absolutely, mind-blowingly giddy, and, shaking slightly, I kissed her again, a soft moan emitting from my throat as the moist insides of our lips met briefly.

Now, here the male instinct is to penetrate deeper. To part her lips; to feel the wet inside of her mouth and to slip my tongue inside. I found myself resisting that urge, much to the complaint of my entire body, because I don't know how I knew, but I knew that the little ache in me that feels unsatisfied would continue feeling that way, no longer how much I explored her mouth and the feel of her body against mine, no matter how long I prolonged this kiss. It will not be satisfied until I have laid her out underneath me, until I have taken her completely...!

And so, with the last of my self-restraint, I pulled away, almost forcefully, placing my hands on her shoulders to push her away. Her shocked expression, first from the kiss, then from the abrupt ending, stared at me accusingly, and I felt like I should apologize, suddenly.

To my surprise, between her gasps for breath, she said softly, "Is something wrong?"

I, too, was breathing hard as I shook my head and removed my hands from her shoulders, scooting ungracefully off the piano bench. "Gomen...It's not your fault...It's mine...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that to begin with."

Concern, anger and confusion chased shadowy paths across her face. "But...Kyon...I..."

I couldn't take it any longer. Being this close to her...the heat was bursting out, yet unlike the burn of a flame, it caressed me enticingly, longing for more. I turned and ran away. I should have learned from last time, but I didn't.

Afterward, I regretted that more than anything.

**Author's Notes: **Aaaaand it all comes back to music in the end. Sumimasen! Sumimasen! (bows apologetically). As a musician, I can't help but want my characters to end up that way, too. Actually, come to think of it, this is the first time I've allowed another composer in. Her character kind of lends itself to that, don't you think? Normally I lead my characters toward teaching or performing so that it doesn't seem like I'm writing my own self into my characters. I hate that. I understand "writing from what you know", but at the same time, use a little imagination, people! Anyway, since Haruhi's character is so naturally different from mine anyway, I feel a little more at ease writing her into a composer's role.

And by the way, don't take my word for any of my "romantic ramblings". I kind of just write what I've observed personally, because everyone is different. I think some people are meant to find "the one", and others can do well with a variety; it just depends on the person. That's my objective opinion.

Oh! I just remembered where "hatched out musical" comes from. Usually when I quote something, it's on purpose, but occasionally one just worms its way in without me noticing. This one is from a haiku by Issa:

Even with insects

Some are hatched out musical

Some alas! Tone deaf.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 5:

The phone was ringing, and it was annoying.

I groaned a little, turning over in bed and pulling my pillow over my head. It was my extremely rare Sunday off, free from Haruhi-doings or anything of the like, and my sleep had to be interrupted ages before I was ready by that infernal ringing. Damn phone...just somebody pick up already!

"Moshi moshi..." Oh, no, not you. Anyone but you, just don't pick up the phone. Okay, if you have to pick up the phone, let it not be for me, please, please...

Pitter patter. No, thump thump thump. Imouto-chan is nearly twelve, after all, and has inherited not a wit of gracefulness.

Bang. That was the door. I pulled the pillow even firmer around my ears, as if I could will away the presence of my sister, the phone, and whoever was on the other end. No such luck.

"Kyon, Kyon, telephone..."

Accompanying her toneless singing came the rush of coldish air as she whipped the blankets off of me and began tugging at my pajamas incessantly. I gave up and removed the pillow (I wasn't in the mood for self-strangulation, anyway) and tugged the phone out of her hands. "Who is it?" But she was already skipping out the door.

I cleared my throat, full of early-morning muck, and spoke into the phone, "Moshi moshi?"

"..."

"Oh, it's you, Nagato. What's up?"

"Library."

"What?"

"..."

"Nagato, what's wrong?"

"..."

I have become a self-proclaimed expert in the fine art of deciphering Nagato-silence by now. And something about this particular silence told me something was very wrong, but she wasn't going to tell me. That was disturbing. If it were in the normal line of duty, she would lay it all out for me in her usual monotone string of incomprehensible words, but this was different. Almost as if it were a problem that transcended her regular duty. Almost as if it were...no...I had to be wrong...

"I'm coming," I said into the phone, and hung up. My morning repose completely pointless at this point, I merely shoved some what-I-deemed-clean clothes on and grabbed my bike, heading downtown.

Out of breath and sweaty as I was, I must have gathered some strange looks from the various librarians and patrons who were crazy enough to inhabit a library at 8:30 in the morning. I half wondered if Nagato had risen early and waited outside until someone had let her in. The other half of me was wondering, Okay, in library. Now what?

She wasn't on the first level, where I usually expected her, among heavy volumes of non-fiction. I ascended the stairs and entered the fiction level, passing through aisles of books, gradually smelling mustier as I reached the back...

And then a small blot of blue caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I backtracked, my speed having carried me beyond, and tentatively approached her.

Nagato, what's wrong?

She looked up at me, expressionless, kneeling on the floor with a volume clutched in both hands. But that sense I had had earlier...it's true, isn't it? It is a human problem. Human? Nagato, when did...?

"Nagato." I knelt down next to her and gently took the book from her hands. Her expression remained unchanged, but something was different. Her eyes...were they glassier? I glanced down at the page she had been reading. It was in poorly translated Japanese, with Italian words appearing here and there in katakana. I flipped over to the front cover and gazed at the title thoughtfully.

"The Name of the Rose...What is this, a romance novel? When did you start reading romance novels, Nagato?"

She shook her head ever so slightly, and I scanned the opened page. Lines jumped out at me..."fire", "books", "library"...

So that's what's got you so worked up, huh? Does reading a fiction story about a burning library really affect you this much?

(A/N: It did affect me that much, lol)

She looked away, and I set the offending book down and reached out for her, very slowly. My hands found her shoulders, and I felt, to my surprise, that she was shaking.

Shaking. Nagato. I didn't know whether to rejoice that she was showing such a human emotion, or to be alarmed at the extent to which she had been affected.

So I let all that go and pulled her tight.

Soft...so soft...every inch of her was like baby's skin. Even though she was so thin, I had none of the skeleton sensation one has when touching the drained frame of an elderly person.

And then...like the wings of a newborn butterfly, her tiny hands crept under my arms and circled around my back.

I felt my world slow and spin as my breath left me entirely.

I swallowed hard and said seriously, "Nagato...that book, it's just fiction, you know? It wasn't an actually library that burned down. It was all just the imagination of the author." I gave a little mirthless laugh. "That's what you get for reading an Italian author, you know."

"Fiction."

"Right. It's not true. It's all made up."

There was a moment of silence, and then she said, "I know the meaning of fiction."

My cheeks heated in embarrassment. "Of course you do." I started to pull back, but she refused to let go. She was remarkably strong; I should have known that already. I stayed where I was, arms frozen around her shoulders, her head tucked under my chin, both of us still kneeling into each other.

"...Nagato?"

Pause. Then I felt her head shake the negatory millimeter or so. "Yuki. Call me Yuki."

"Are you sure?"

She pulled away, finally, and locked her unblinking gaze on mine as I let my hands drop away, reluctantly. Then her eyelids drooped a fraction of a millimeter in affirmation.

"Okay." If you're sure, Nagato.

"Now." Then, as a tacked-on afterthought, "Please."

I smiled nervously at her and tucked the ever-longer lock of purplish-grey hair behind her ear. "Okay." Pause. Awkward. Why? Unprecedented. Too familiar. Alien...

"Yu...Yuki..."

It felt good. Like ice-cream sliding over my tongue and melting on the way. "Yuki."

Her eyelids lowered even more, which seemed like an incredible outburst of emotion from her, and for a moment she seemed to be looking not at my eyes, but lower down on my face. Then she stood, gracefully, and I, in order to avoid the potential gratification that would emerge as a result of my kneeling next to a pair of skinny legs in a short skirt, also rose. Sighing, I stuffed my hands in my pockets and handed her the book I'd picked back up.

"Do you want to check this out?"

She blinked, but did not reach for the book, which was as good as screaming out, "I can't bear to read any more of it!"

"You should finish it."

"No."

A little taken aback by her firm negative response, and a little annoyed at her stubbornness, I answered a little louder, "No, you should. You've never not finished a book, right? What will you feel like if you don't finish this one?"

She stood up infinitesimally straighter, and looked me in the eye. "Then it will be the first time."

As she turned and began walking toward the stairs, I followed her slight form with my eyes and thought,

Yes, there is a first time for everything. A first time to call your name, a first time to be the one to save you, for a change. Naga...Yuki, when did you first feel it? The human sensation called "emotion"?

It is changing you.

.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess with locks of red, streaming down her back like a waterfall at sunset. Through various circumstances, the princess found herself in trouble. But there was a handsome prince with a sword like a bolt of lightning from the sky, who came along and saved her. They all lived happily ever after. The end.

Do girls really want that kind of story? Do they genuinely want to be the ones who are helplessly locked in a castle until the prince of their dreams comes along and slays the dragon, or the evil sorcerer?

That seems kind of boring.

.

Baker's half dozen, 150 yen.

I was already out in town, alone for a change, since Yuki had suddenly decided to disappear, and the sign appeared in the bakery window like the glimmering horizon oasis to a desert traveler. My stomach growled at me to enter and so, very obediently, I ducked into the shop.

(Irrasshaimasu!)

Instantly, my olfactory senses were overloaded with the incredible smell of Western-style morning sweets. Bagals, cinnamon rolls, even a moon-shaped roll that I'd never seen before but recalled that it was French. I stood still, inhaled, and then beat out two people to the counter.

"The sale in the window...is it still going?" The girl behind the counter nodded and, grinning, pulled out a box with seven cheerfully glazed doughnuts in it. "Will that be all, sir?"

I considered looking around me, taking my time to enjoy the colorful displays of sprinkled doughnuts, maple-bars, and bear paws, but feeling the indignation of those behind me in line who should have been here first, I nodded and slapped down the cash on the counter before scooping up my well-won victory trophy and getting out.

Mm...still warm; the glaze had hardly hardened. I sighed luxuriously and let my teeth sink into one, the sweetness spreading of crispy outside and feathery inside. I closed my eyes in bliss as I stepped out into the intersection.

So when my hand, still holding the remainder of that doughnut, was roughly grabbed to pull me a couple of feet to the side, the first thought I had was, What the hell?

It started to come out my vocal chords, too, but it was drowned out by the sound of a blazing horn, screeching brakes, and before my eyes, a flash of bright metal announced the too-close presence of a vehicle which had run the red light.

Mouth open, unceremoniously displaying the remains of the unswallowed doughnut, I looked over at the person who had grabbed my hand so suddenly.

Like an angel without wings, Asahina-san's heavenly figure stood before me, wide eyes shining in worry.

"Kyon-kun...daijoubu desu ka?"

"Ha...hai," I replied, a tad confused.

This was odd. The roles seemed completely reversed. Wasn't I always supposed to be the one saving her? Come to think of it, had Asahina-san ever been useful in an emergency situation before?

She was still holding my hand.

"Youkatta...I was so worried, when I saw that car speeding toward you, I thought..." Her eyebrows worked towards each other, quivering as she blinked at me in concern.

Asahina-san, it's okay now. We really should cross, though.

She gasped and smiled as I tugged her by the hand. "Of...of course! Kyon-kun, I didn't expect to see you today. What brings you out here?"

I smiled back at her. She was impossible not to smile at. "I had a minor emergency at the library this morning." We stepped up onto the curb on the other side of the street, and I suddenly remembered the doughnut box I was still holding onto. "Asahina-san..."

"Hai?"

I held out the box, lid open slightly. "Would you like...?"

"Demo..."

"I insist!"

She laughed a little as she slipped one little hand inside and pulled out a glazed O of goodness. "Dewa...arigatou!"

I watched her munch away happily, and thought,

How ironic.

The ice princess, locked up in her castle of lonely shadows and patient books, the one whom we all rely on to save the day. Not Amazon, nor Valkyrie-just Nagato-Yuki, a plain, ordinary Humanoid Interface. And yet...I get the feeling that all she wants is to lay aside her monotonous duties, and hold, and be held, to be soothed and comforted.

The fire princess, sweet and virginal, loved by all and the very picture of loveliness and gentle hospitality, the one that no prince would ever hesitate to save from a burning building. This fragile, happy child, sweetness personified. And yet...so frustrated by her incapabilities, worn down from being saved so many times, helpless to respond.

But for once, the fairytale is disintegrating. Let it melt away. Let humanity override this script.

I watched Asahina-san smile up at me and slyly reach for another doughnut. Teasingly, I held the box out of her grasp and enjoyed her face forming a pout as she jumped in vain to attempt to reach it. We must have looked like a couple of elementary school kids.

Could there be any lovelier way to spend the day than to hold Yuki in the morning, and laugh with Asahina-san in the afternoon?

And yet...the fire and the ice are so colorless, so lusterless, without the mirror of lights to make them dance and whirl.

Why does it trouble me?

Yes, how ironic.

No Haruhi today.

**Author's Notes:**

Gomen nasai! I'm sorry this is so late, and I'm sorry it doesn't have any real ending, and...well, anyway, when I formulated this chapter, it had a point (AKA, to demonstrate more of the growing feelings of friendship between Kyon and Nagato and Asahina-san, and also to subvert the patterns of who saves whom from what), but it turned out a little...anticlimatic...Well, the last chapter will be out in a couple more days, so thank you for your patience!

Translations:

Moshi moshi: hello (on the telephone)

Irrasshaimasu: Welcome (to the shop)

Daijoubu desu ka: are you alright?

Youkatta: I'm relived

Demo: But...

Dewa...: Well then...

For those who don't know, there's a thing in Japan where you decline the first time somebody offers you food, and then accept the second time. That's what Asahina-san is doing here.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 6:

The room was shockingly quiet when I knocked and entered to no reply, and closing the door behind me shut out the muffled sounds of people outside, and made it even more quiet. I found myself stretching a little in that welcome silence, smiling as I heaved a sigh and let my backpack drop onto the table with a soft thud. Guess no one's here yet. It's not often that I'm the first here. Usually Haruhi is in the act of forcing Asahina into yet another costume, or Koizumi is sitting at the table with the ever-present smile, or at the very least Yuki is silently reading in the corner with that presenceless feel about her.

Yet after a moment I realized I wasn't alone. I don't know if she shifted, or cleared her throat, but I suddenly became aware that Haruhi was also in the room, sitting in front of the computer with her "Brigade Leader" pyramid sternly pointing upward, and gazing intently at the screen—or through the screen? It didn't seem like she was looking at anything at all, but she was definitely focused, enough so that she hadn't even noticed me enter. Then I realized that she probably hadn't heard me because she had earbuds in her ears, blocking out all background noise.

I frowned as I paced my way around to her and stood next to her behind the desk. Still no response. What on earth could have her so enthralled? On the screen were swirling colored lights, the usual ambiance of an audio recording, but she wasn't really paying attention to them.

"Ne, Haruhi." Not even a blink. I cleared my throat and tapped her on the shoulder. "Ne, Haruhi."

This time she looked up, completely torn away from whatever world she was in, and looked at me. In that moment of startledness, I read a hundred expressions of anxiety, self-consciousness, and vulnerability, things I would usually never in a thousand years see on her face. After that initial moment, she relaxed and smiled at me, the usual cockiness presiding in her expression. "Oh, it's you, Kyon. What do you want?"

"Whatcha listening to?" I asked curiously.

She took out one of the earbuds and handed it to me. "Here." I hesitated before taking it, having to lean down with my face inches from hers in order to reach. I concentrated on the sound suddenly invading my sense of hearing in order to quell the feeling I got from our faces being in such close proximity to one another. I could detect what seemed to be voiceless screeching, humming, buzzing...all sorts of unearthly sounds, all with pitch, all without regard to any of the others, seemingly completely random.

She watched for my expression eagerly. "What do you think?"

I grimaced. "Sounds like a bunch of mindless screeching. What lunatic made this stuff?"

"Penderecki."

"He's crazy. What's the name of this crap?"

"'Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima'."

That made me stop still. "Oh," I said, sudden realization hitting me like the changes of sound, panicked, swirling, screaming, and then silence. "Wow."

"I know."

"Holy shit."

She snorted in laughter, though it was hushed, like one would upon remembering a joke of a deceased family member while standing before their grave.

"Shush, I'm listening."

"I know, I know."

We continued listening, completely still through the minute-long silences in the middle, in mindful awe during the times between. Wrapped up as I was in the music, I found myself studying the girl next to me, intent on the screen again. I watched the way she curled up her fist under the side of her chin, the fine lines of her jaw outlining the delicacy of her features. I loved her expression. I never got to see this side of her. Well, rarely, that is. Never saw her let down her guard. She was so translucent; it was like watching the sun rise through a 13th century stained glass window.

The music ended, like it had begun, suddenly, chaotically, and we both heaved a deep sigh and relaxed our tensed shoulders. I took the earbud out, handing it to her, and stretched, finding myself surprised at how stiff I was. We'd been sitting/standing like that for almost 10 minutes, after all. A gentle, understanding silence passed between the two of us. By now, I would've expected the rest to have come in, but Haruhi is Haruhi, after all. Likely she had wished that they wouldn't, so they hadn't. Likely that she'd wished I'd come in to listen with her, and I had. It's a little frightening, the implications of that.

At last she broke the silence. "What did you think?"

I thought. "Beautiful seems like the word...and yet..."

"I know." She nodded eagerly. "I've listened to it three times in a row, and I still don't have a word for it."

We smiled at each other. A moment had been shared, just between the two of us, and it was alien to anyone else, even to the real alien who quietly entered a few minutes later and took her seat by the window to read.

There are some things one can only do with Haruhi. Those are usually the moments when you realize you're alive.

.

I'll never know if that night was chance, or if Haruhi wished for me to be there. All I can say is, I pray to God it'll never happen again.

It was only slightly chilly, with the mocking mid-May hints of warmth that enticed almost every girl at school to shed their sweaters or jackets to reveal rolled-up sailor-top sleeves, and to fold up the waist-bands of their skirts to reveal as much leg as possible. I, for one, enjoyed it heartily, particularly on Asahina-san, whose legs were worth getting caught gawking at. Yuki, of course, never even considered such methods, and continued to wear her black cardigan without so much as breaking a sweat. For her part, Haruhi scoffed at the girls who did so, but before she left the rehearsal room that afternoon, I saw her sneakily hitch up her skirt an inch or two. It must be assumed that she did it purely because it actually was hot that afternoon, because, as I've noticed, Haruhi is absolutely clueless about her own sex-appeal. Despite the infamous bunny-girl incidents in the past; it was advertising her club, not her body.

She was uncommonly quiet as we walked down that hill together as usual, from habit, from hinted enjoyment at each other's company, and because the hill had to be descended, as usual. There was an unreadable look in her eyes, as though, despite her outward silence, inside her head several voices were yelling at each other and leaving imprinted echoes in the marble corridors of her mind. I got the feeling that there was probably nothing more real and tangible in this world than what went on in her brain. This world was ephemeral, after all; from Koizumi's point of view, the work of kings and emperors for millenia of wiser ages was a fiction based on a former reality. But Haruhi's emotions, her fears and desires and moments of inspiration: those were written on the stone tablets of eternal consequence.

The hill leveled and passed away, and still we said nothing to each other, her thinking and me wondering what she was thinking. What I wouldn't give for the Won Ring of Pawah right now. I concentrated on the people around us, passing by in flocks from work or school to home, who did not know, would never know, that they were all invention. I myself was merely an invention; but the knowledge of it made it seem more surreal and incomprehensible.

At the crosswalk where we usually parted, there was a child who had fallen from his bike and scraped his knee. His mother came running from her tiny lawn across the street and began to comfort him.

Haruhi watched the boy and his mother, and then looked at the crosswalk, and then to me. I waited patiently, attempting to hold her intense gaze and failing as my eyes finally drifted over her shoulder to the rows of crowded houses, laundry airing, ghostlike; miscellaneous objects taking up space on unused porches; busy kitchens of sizzling meat and steamy rice.

"Kyon." Her single word caught my attention, and I forced myself to meet her intense gaze. She took a step forward, closing the distance to less than a foot, and measured the top of her head to my chin. Then she stepped back, considering the pattern her shoe made in the pebble-studded dirt to the side of the sidewalk as she scuffed it gently. Finally, she sighed and cast her gaze on the failing hues of the post-sunset clouds, gathering in heaps on the horizon.

"Do you ever feel like this world is just an eidólon?"

"A...a what? Haruhi, you know I can't speak English."

"A phantom, an apparition, a mirrored reflection that gets closer as you get closer and fades away when you step back." She gave an enigmatic laugh. "It's this world that I want to know...and discover its mysteries...but when I do, how do I know that they are real?"

I couldn't answer.

"Maybe it's just in my head," she continued, shifting her gaze to the other side, still not looking at me. "Have you ever considered that, that maybe reality is just something you made up in your head, that you're living a dream, or maybe someone else's dream?"

Damn it, Haruhi, stop reading my thoughts as you please and ignoring them when you don't! Teenage girls are hard enough to understand, but you are the worst.

"I've considered it," I answered carefully, but she was no longer listening.

I offered to walk her all the way home, for reasons even I couldn't guess at, but she refused. She had entered a world of deep thoughts which I had no access to. I shrugged and let her have her way.

I arrived back at home, taking off my shoes at the familiar entry, hugging my sister with familiar affection, eating dishes I'd eaten maybe a hundred times before. At about 9 pm, my mother realized we were out of miso and sent me to the store to fetch some so we could have soup in the morning.

I was on my way home when I heard the unmistakable sound of Haruhi's "bossy" voice coming from across the street. It was too dark to see clearly, the moon being hidden behind a thick layer of clouds, especially as the corner I heard it coming from was an unlit playground, and though normally I'd just assume she'd found some kid to boss around and head the other direction lest I be caught up in the whirlwind, too, I heard a distinct undertone which made me pause, and walk in that direction.

It was fear.

It goes to show you how much time I've been forced to be around her that I was even able to pick up on that. Haruhi is very good at hiding any hint of vulnerability. But it was there, and hearing it frightened the bejeezes out of me. As I got closer, I heard a couple of low male voices, too, and picked up my pace. They were still a little ways away, but dimly I could see what was happening.

There were several of them, all in their mid-20s, and at least a few somewhat intoxicated. She was standing in front of the swingset, arms crossed, as though she'd been sitting on one of the swings and had gotten up to leave when they'd approached.

The conversation was pretty typical of such a situation, and went something like this:

"Hey hey hey, what's a pretty young lady like you doing out here at this time of night?"

"It's none of your business. Just leave me alone."

Sick laughter. "C'mon, don't you want a little fun?"

"I'm not interested in your definition of 'fun'. I'm leaving now. Don't follow me."

I was almost there as I watched her try to side step them, but one of them blocked her path with his arm, and she stepped quickly backwards to avoid him touching her.

"C'mon, you must be looking for some fun, dressed like that." All of them snickered, and I distinctly heard her gasp before I dropped the grocery bag I was carrying and broke out into a sprint.

"I said...leave me alone!" One of them seized her arm, and she kicked him in the shin. Two others grabbed her from behind, and she let out a sound that, were it anyone but Haruhi, tough, take-care-of-myself Haruhi, might have developed into a scream.

But it was too late. I cut into the scene ferociously, garnering startled looks from them all, along with a look of delight from Haruhi, and began pounding every ounce of flesh on those bastards that I could reach.

I didn't see the baseball bat. The already dark sky went completely black.

.

I woke an indeterminable amount of time later. It was likely that it was only a couple of minutes, though. The first sensations that I could detect through the extraordinary pain in my head were a warm weight on my chest, and the sound of weeping.

Wait. The sound of Haruhi weeping. Haruhi doesn't cry. I've never caught her at it, anyway. She gets disgruntled, angry, and bored, but never sad enough to cry. What was going on?

I remembered...hitting someone...and then an explosion in my head...

My eyes bolted open suddenly as I remembered everything. I sat up so suddenly that dizziness overcame me, and I was forced to lie back down, closing my eyes again. Vaguely, I could feel something wet and sticky on the back of my head.

But the warmth on my chest—that belonged to someone else. I cracked my eyes open to see the tear-streaked face of Haruhi peering down at me. When she saw that my eyes were open, she took a long, pained gasp of breath and collapsed face-down back onto my chest.

"Kyon...you're awake...I thought you'd never..."

Her hands clenched suddenly where they were grabbing my shirt.

I sat up again, more slowly this time, and pulled her chin up with my hand sharply to look up at me. "Haruhi...are you okay? They didn't...did they?"

She shook her head vigorously. God, I can't tell you how much that relieved me. "They left after one of them hit you...They hit you so hard, they were afraid they'd killed you, so they ran..."

I let out a little laugh, wincing and touching the back of my head as I did so. "Lucky for me my skull's so thick, I guess."

She snorted. "Sure, that not an overused line at all." She was still plastered to my chest.

"Hey, I did just get hit over the head, 'kay? What, you're expecting me to be creative at a time like this?"

She finally smiled, and it was a beautiful smile, even through the tears. "Baka," she said.

I gathered her into my arms and we sat there together, clinging to each other out of relief, pain, and exhaustion while the moon came out from behind the clouds at last and cast a silvery glow on her hair. Even though the evening had decided to suddenly turn very chilly, I felt a strange, welcome warmth, that had nothing to do with body heat, spread from my chest to my arms and legs and face. I tucked her head under my chin and listened to her calmer breathing.

I think, though it took me a long time afterward to admit it, that this is when I first fell in love with Haruhi Suzumiya.

_Fine_


End file.
